“It is up to Zimbabwe to take immediate steps to stop the violence. If they do not stop it, we will take action, whatever action is possible to stop it,” Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad said on Friday.

The solution to the situation in Zimbabwe needs to be sorted out by the parties in Zimbabwe, guided by the African Union (AU) resolution that a government of national unity should be established, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad said on Friday.

“The African Union calls on Zimbabwe to discuss the way forward,” he said in Pretoria.

The Zimbabwe issue, among a number of others, was discussed at the recent AU summit and it had been decided that the only solution to the “urgent” problem was a government of national unity.

He said any additional pressure from the AU and international communities would only impede peace and stability in the country. No other contingency plans other than the resolution had been discussed, added Pahad.

However, the current situation could not continue.

But there have already been indications that the parties in Zimbabwe were in discussions, said Pahad.

Pahad also added his voice on the putting of 7 seven MDC MPs on police wanted list.

‘So, we believe that logically, an important element of getting the Zimbabweans to sit down and seriously talk is to create the necessary conducive environment in which this can happen and that includes all these aspects - the violence, the humanitarian situation and the issue of arrests. I am also sure that if you want these discussions to succeed then you would have to create the conducive climate.’

State sponsored violence had been on the rise.This week Buhera South MP,Naisaon Madziva was abducted and two MDC supporters were killed last night,police today said they want to arrest seven MDC MPs on unspecified charges.20 MDC MPs are behind bars.

Contact Gerald,southafrica@zimbabwemetro.com

Resolution on Zimbabwe

The African Union Assembly, meeting in its 11th Ordinary Session held on June 30 to July 1, 2008 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt,

DEEPLY CONCERNED with the prevailing situation in Zimbabwe;

DEEPLY CONCERNED with the negative reports of SADC, the African Union and the Pan-African Parliament observers on the Zimbabwean Presidential run-off election held on June 27, 2008;

DEEPLY CONCERNED about the violence and the loss of life that has occurred in Zimbabwe.

CONSIDERING the urgent need to prevent further worsening of the situation and with a view to avoid spread of conflict with the consequential negative impact on the country and the sub-region;

FURTHER CONSIDERING the need to create an environment conducive for democracy, as well as the development of the people of Zimbabwe;

EXPRESSING its appreciation to SADC, and its Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation, as well as the Facilitator of the intra-Zimbabwe dialogue, His Excellency Thabo Mbeki, President of the Republic of South Africa, and His Excellency Jean Ping, Chairperson of the African Union Commission for the ongoing work aimed at reconciling the political parties;

RECOGNISING the complexity of the situation in Zimbabwe;

NOTING the willingness of the political leaders of Zimbabwe to enter into negotiations to establish a Government of National Unity;

NOTING FURTHER the preparatory discussions on this matter had already started, under SADC facilitation;

Hereby decide:

1. TO ENCOURAGE Robert Mugabe and the leader of the MDC Party Mr Morgan Tsvangirai to honour their commitment to initiate dialogue with a view to promoting peace, stability, democracy and the reconciliation of the Zimbabwean people;
2. TO SUPPORT the call, for the creation of a Government of National Unity;
3. TO SUPPORT the SADC Facilitation, and to recommend that SADC mediation efforts should be continued in order to resolve the problems they are facing. In this regard SADC should establish a mechanism on the ground in order to seize the momentum for a negotiated solution;
4. TO APPEAL to states and all parties concerned to refrain from any action that may negatively impact on the climate of dialogue;
5. In the spirit of all SADC initiatives, the AU remains convinced that the people of Zimbabwe will be able to resolve their differences and work together once again as one Nation, provided they receive undivided support from SADC, the AU and the world at large.

Addressing a press conference in Dar es Salaam, Membe said the just ended African Union Heads of State Summit had declared null and void the June 27 presidential run-off election, in which Mr Mugabe was the sole candidate. MDC candidate Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew a week before the poll, citing increasing violence against his supporters.

Election monitors from the South African Development Community (Sadc), the African Union (AU) and the Pan African Parliament all gave reports that cast serious doubts on the credibility of the elections.

Yesterday, the minister said the violence during the campaigns had made it impossible to conduct a free and fair election.

The decision not to recognise the Zimbabwean election has been endorsed by the AU and Sadc after adopting the election monitors reports, said Membe, who is also the chairman of the AU foreign affairs ministers.

He was briefing journalists on the Summit in Egypt, just a day after returning home.

The minister said that during the summit, no leader had endorsed the Zimbabwean election or congratulated Mr Mugabe on his supposed victory.

Mugabe defied an appeal by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, international condemnation, and pleas by his fellow African leaders to call off the election. And after being hurriedly sworn in, he flew to Egypt to attend the Heads of State Summit.

Yesterday, Membe said, ‘There was no one at the Summit who was happy about what happened in Zimbabwe. In fact, all the members denounced the election.’

The Tanzanian minister compared the Zimbabwean election to a football match in which an offside goal was allowed to count.

‘This was like a football match where a player touches the ball and scores, but unfortunately, the referee allows it. It is not a goal scored in the normal way.’

Membe said the reports of the 413 observers who monitored the elections had been useful, as they had enabled the AU and Sadc to reach a verdict.

The AU then mandated Sadc to immediately lead a mediation process that would bring together Mr Mugabe’s Zanu-PF and Movement of Democratic Change party leaders to form a government of national unity.

Membe said a meeting of the regional leaders would soon be held to review the progress made in the peace process. No one party will be able to govern in Zimbabwe as things stand now. Zanu-PF cannot rule alone and negotiations will be the only way out, he said.

During the summit, Membe said, the AU chairman, President Jakaya Kikwete, had told Mr Mugabe to his face go back home and think about what the leaders had decided.

The chairman told Mugabe that the situation in his country could only get worse if he does not think seriously about the advice given to him.

Additional Reporting from The Citizen

The MDC supporters and members have been arrested on charges of being involved in political violence whilst most MPs are being accused of trumped-up charges of inciting political violence.

The arrests come at a time when 103 MDC supporters who have been murdered by Zanu PF supporters but not a single Zanu PF supporter has been arrested. About 5 000 MDC supporters, mainly polling agents and council candidates, are still missing after having been abducted by Zanu MP militia and Sate security agents in unmarked vehicles.

Thousands of MDC supporters are still in the mountains, fearing for their lives while others are still in hospital nursing serious injuries sustained by Zanu PF and state security agents following the historic defeat of Zanu PF and Robert Mugabe during the watershed polls of 29 March 2008. Those polls remain the only credible polls that were deemed relatively free and fair by regional and continental observer missions.

The injured include Thamsanqa Mahlangu, the MP-elect for Nkulumane who is also the national youth chairman of the MDC. Mahlangu is battling for his life in a Harare hospital after being bludgeoned by Zanu PF thugs at an aborted rally at the Glamis Arena in Harare on Sunday, 22 June 2008.

MDC activists in prison/police custody

Speaking to reporters after returning from the AU summit he echoed Mugabe’s line that the MDC is an epindege of the west.

“Zimbabwe’s election is valid”. he said and branded the leader of the MDC, as a “blue-eyed boy” and “puppet” of the West.

Jammeh a muslim ’s election on October 18, 2001 was declared not free and by all observers in the small impoverished country of 1 million.The opposition led by Ousainou Darboe’s United Democratic Party boycotted the elections citing massive intimidation and gross irregularities.

Like Mugabe Jammeh has embraced Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad making a three-day visit to Iran last year.

Jammeh has been accused of restricting freedom of the press. Harsh new press laws were followed by the unsolved killing of a reporters who had been critical of them, one of them Deyda Hydara.

In April 2004 he called on journalists to echo the government line “or go to hell”. In June 2005 he stated on radio and television that he has allowed “too much expression” in the country.

Jammeh was involved in the 2004 massacre of 44 Ghanaian migrants and 10 other nationals.

Like Mugabe they both share a dislike of homosexuals. On May 15, 2008, Jammeh announced that his government would introduce legislation that would set rules against homosexuals that would be “stricter than those in Iran”, and that he would “cut off the head” of any gay or lesbian person discovered in the country.

In January 2007, Jammeh claimed he could cure HIV/AIDS with natural herbs.

Fadzai Gwaradzimba a Zimbabwean, the country representative of the United Nations Development Programme in The Gambia, was told to leave the country after she expressed doubts about the claims and said the remedy might encourage risky behaviour.

In an interview with Botswana Sunday Standard, Botswana minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Brigadier Dikgakgamatso Seretse, said, “This is a very sensitive matter, therefore, I can neither confirm nor deny any deployment of soldiers along the Zimbabwe-Botswana boarder.”

Early this week Botswana become the first African country to publicly declare that it will not recognize Mugabe as president of Zimbabwe and called for the African Union on Tuesday to exclude Zimbabwe from its meetings because a disputed election did not give the government legitimacy.

“In our considered view, it therefore follows that the representatives of the current government in Zimbabwe should be excluded from attending SADC and African Union meetings,” Vice President Mompati Merafhe said.

It has emerged that during the closed door session on Tuesday evening, the Vice President of Botswana Mompati Merafhe said for all the reasons outlined in the reports of the observer missions of SADC, the AU and the Pan African Parliament, his country “does not confer legitimacy on the government of President Mugabe”.

Merafhe proceeded to call for the exclusion of the “representatives of the current Zimbabwean ‘government’” from all future SADC and African meetings, saying their participation “would give unqualified legitimacy to a process which cannot be considered legitimate.”

Botswana also added its voice on Thabo Mbeki’s mediation efforts,”The personalities for the mediation process should be acceptable to both parties. It is also Botswana’s strong view that the mediation process must treat both parties as equals,” Merafhe said.

The Botswana government just issued a statement saying they had not closed its border with Zimbabwe or severed ties with the country.

“Botswana has neither severed ties with Zimbabwe, nor taken any steps to disrupt normal cross-border relations,” the country said in a statement.

Botswana reassured the public that earlier media reports alleging that Botswana had closed its border were without substance.

However Botswana still maintained that elections did not meet the required minimum standard of free and fair and therefore did not legitimize Robert Mugabe’s government.

Update includes Botswana government statement.

According to a government statement Sirleaf made the comments at the closed door Session of the African Union (AU) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, when she made her intervention to colleagues during a closed session. She said the international community should work with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to find a permanent solution to the situation in Zimbabwe. She put forward Liberia as a case in point, saying the 1985 election was endorsed by Africa and the world, which frustrated the true will of the people of Liberia and subsequently engendered a fourteen year civil war that left over two hundred thousand persons dead.

The Liberian leader called on the African Union to be courageous to say that ‘all is not well in Zimbabwe’ and that the request by SADC for a postponement of the June 27 Zimbabwean elections should be heeded.

The President reminded Summit participants that the African Union Observer Mission declared the June 27th elections fell short of the accepted AU standards, and that this was a similar position taken by the Pan African Parliament and the United Nations Security Council. She urged Summit participants to take a firm stance as well: ‘All these persons and institutions cannot be wrong, cannot be conspiratorial as we may be made to believe,’ she stressed.

Johnson Sirleaf also called for a peacekeeping mission in Zimbabwe as an early warning system in order to monitor and prevent further escalation of the crisis. She finally called on the AU be consistent with the standards it promotes.

“Yes the party is going to take further action against Chiabva,and we have a disciplinary process in place”said Gasela

Gasela said Chaibva’s comments reflect his personal views and not the views of the party.

Chaibva reportedly told state media that the MDC must recognize Mugabe as the legitimate president of Zimbabwe before any talks.

“In 2002, we said we would not recognise President Mugabe’s legitimacy and where did that get us? We cannot keep on engaging in actions that do not take the nation forward. It is time to think of the wishes of the people,”

Chaibva further accused the MDC of western influence,

“When the MDC split, we made it clear that we were for land redistribution. We were nationalist and pan-African.

“But the providers of capital see this as a threat to their permanent economic interests in Zimbabwe. That is why just before the elections the two MDC s failed to unite.

“The Americans and the Germans produced a report telling Tsvangirai that he would win 85 percent of the vote on March 29 and that he didn’t need the support of Mutambara. It’s ironic really that they thought they would get 85 percent.” Chaibva is quoted saying.

The MDC completely disassociated itself from the comments,’That is why he was fired’,Gasela said.

Chaibva along with two other junior MDC officials attended Mugabe’s inauguration which was boycotted by the rest of the MDC leadership despite being invited he went further to attend the burial of former Zimbabwean ambassador to Sudan Lloyd Gundu at Heroes’ Acre in Harare.

As the MP was coming out of the court at around midday, five armed men who then drove off at high speed forced him into a parked Toyota twin cab truck that had no number plates.
One of the abductors was identified as ZNA colonel Morgan Mzilikazi.

A report was made to the police and MDC lawyers were told that Hon. Nemadziwa had been taken to Muzokomba police station in Buhera.
However, after a follow up to the said police station, Nemadziwa was not found and the police officers there were not aware of his whereabouts.

Over 10 MDC supporters have been murdered since Zanu PF held its sham election on 27 June 2008 in which the MDC did not participate because of the political violence perpetrated by Zanu PF militia backed by state security agents.

In Chegutu Zanu PF hooligans attacked MDC senatorial candidate Mrs Moketsi’s home, vandalizing all the window panes , doors and asbestos roofing.

In Makoni North, Zanu PF supporters who are claiming to be war veterans, are moving around the area assaulting people and stealing their livestock including chickens and goats.

In Masvingo province, cases of women being raped at torture bases are on the increase. The Zanu PF youths at these bases are also stealing cattle from villagers, which they are eating at the bases.

The rural home of Zaka West MP, Festus Dumbu was attacked and five of his relatives were abducted and their whereabouts are unknown.

In Midlands province, riot police officers are beating people moving around Mkoba suburb and on Sunday 10 people had to be hospitalised after they received injuries.

Cases of beatings and intimidation are on the increase in Mberengwa, Gokwe and Zhombe as Zanu PF youths are moving around the areas.

Those who fled their homes due to intimidation are still staying in the mountains in fear of further attacks by Zanu PF thugs.

In Chiredzi South three wagon loads of maize grain arrived at the Makambi siding 100km to the South of Chiredzi, for distribution to the people in the area. When known MDC officials and supporters tried to join the queue’s to purchase their share they were chased away by supporters of ZANU PF led by Major Musamegi who is supposed to be heading ZANU’s operation” MAGUTA” meaning “enough food”. He also took between 8 and 10 pick up loads for himself. It has also been reported that he has been setting up his own road blocks and taking food and forex away from people heading for the boarder some 80km away, these are the desperate boarder jumpers.

In Zaka East ward 26,the militia are feeding themselves on MDC supporters cattle, on Sunday 2 cows were taken by militia from Mr. E. Chateya, who’s wife is the councilor for ward 26 and again on Tuesday another was taken from Mr. Nyemudso who was the Chief Election Agent for the same ward. Both partys reported these thefts to the ZAKA police , but were told that their hands were tied.

At least 2 dozen cattle have been taken from MDC officials and supporters since just before the last elections and is making these people poorer than they were before. There are 2 youth militia camps in the area and they support themselves by stealing from MDC supporters and poaching from the local ranches.