Leaders, Human Rights Group Contest Mugabe's Win
OneWorld, US
June 30, 2008
Leaders at the African Union (AU) Summit should reject Zimbabwe's presidential run-off results and support a negotiation between the opposing parties -- despite South African President Mbeki's endorsement of Mugabe's win -- say world leaders and a human rights watchdog.
"The African Union can help end the violence in Zimbabwe by taking the strongest possible action against Robert Mugabe and his government," said Georgette Gagnon with Human Rights Watch.
African heads of state will address the election results at the African Union Summit in Egypt today and Tuesday.
Human Rights Watch disputes the election results, citing "numerous incidents of intimidation, violence, and manipulation of the vote by Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party before, during, and after the June 27 runoff vote."
Reports indicate that ZANU-PF members set up unofficial stations in front of polling booths and forced people to submit their names and the serial numbers of their ballots to government officials. Mugabe supporters also went door-to-door checking citizens' fingers for signs of indelible ink to ensure that they voted and threatening them to make sure they went to the polls.
The AU should "uphold its African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, by declaring the runoff unconstitutional...andsuspending Zimbabwe from the African Union," said Human Rights Watch following the Friday vote. The AU should also hold Mugabe and members of the security forces accountable for human rights violations leading up to the elections.
"A group of impartial eminent persons should be taking the lead to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe...and replace the failed mediation effort by South African President Thabo Mbeki," continued Gagnon.
Mbeki's "quiet diplomacy" towards Zimbabwe "has nurtured the dictatorship of Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's ruler for nearly 30 years," says Patrick Bond, director ofthe Centre for Civil Society at the University of KwaZulu-Natal inSouth Africa.
While the Pan-African Parliament has rejected the election results, Mbeki has recognized Mugabe as president in the interest of maintaining his role as the Southern African Development Community's mediator in Zimbabwe, said a source close to the Zimbabwe talks.
Although the SADC condemned the violence they are expected to recognize the election results as "legitimate, although not free and fair," reported Business Day, a Johannesburg-based newspaper.
Meanwhile, The Elders -- a group of world leaders and Nobel Peace Laureates -- are urging the AU to appoint an impartial group to pursue a mediation effort between Mugabe and the opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
The AU is in a good position to help Zimbabwe "create a transitional government; prepare for free and fair elections; and start a process of national reconciliation," stated The Elders this Monday.