ZIMBABWE: Signs of progress - ZimRights

JOHANNESBURG, 22 January (IRIN) - There are signs that the Zimbabwean
government is trying to honour commitments it made to its neighbours at
the recent Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit in Malawi,
a leading human rights activist told IRIN on Tuesday.

"We are seeing signs of the government respecting commitments it made to
SADC (because) at the last meeting SADC really came down heavily,"
ZimRights director Bidi Munyaradzi said. He added that in spite of
violence reported at an opposition rally in Bulawayo at the weekend, it
seemed as though the government was moving to clamp down on violence and
keep some of its promises.

The first sign of possible compliance, he said, was that the government
was now willing to allow international observers into the country for the
9-10 March presidential election. Another was that a dreaded media bill
drafted by minister of state for information, Jonathan Moyo, was not
debated by parliament as planned on Tuesday. Munyaradzi said ZimRights had
heard that the bill had been shelved indefinitely.

In addition, he said, Home Affairs Minister John Nkomo, considered by
ZimRights to be "level-headed and principled", had publicly instructed the
security forces to ensure law and order across the country. "The last time
such instructions were issued by him to the police, there were large
numbers of veterans arrested and fined. As ZimRights we respect him. We
have approached him and written to him on a number of issues before,"
Munyaradzi said.

He said that as a result of the order, a heavy police presence was visible
in Harare's high-density suburbs at the weekend. The urban areas are seen
as the stronghold of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

"We are confident that if the police continue with what we saw this
weekend, the violence is going to die down and stop. We are all a bit
optimistic that the elections are going to be held in a free environment
and in a non-violent manner," he said. In the past police have been
accused of being partisan and their presence has served to further
intimidate residents.

However, Munyaradzi warned: "Much of the violence, as you know, is
recorded before the elections. We surely should not forget that there was
a high level of violence leading up to (parliamentary) elections the last
time around."

He also said there was great concern about the fact that non-governmental
and human rights organisations in the country were being labelled as
opposition party supporters.

The international secretariat of Amnesty International said in a statement
on Monday that baseless allegations against a human rights organisation
printed in Zimbabwe's state-controlled daily, The Herald, signalled "the
newest phase in the government's campaign to undermine civil society".

It said that the newspaper reported on 17 and 18 January that the Amani
Trust had been funding covert operations against President Robert Mugabe's
ruling ZANU-PF, was financially linked to the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) and that its assistance to victims of political
violence was actually a means of carrying out torture.

"This is a contemptible twisting of facts - to describe an organisation
assisting victims of torture as perpetrating torture," the statement said.
"We unreservedly condemn the campaign of slander that attempts to portray
Amani Trust or other human rights organisations as politically motivated
and involved in political violence. We are concerned that this gives a
green light to state-sponsored militia to perpetrate violence against
human rights defenders."

Munyaradzi said he believed that such reports were calculated to "create a
culture of fear and intimidation" within civil society.
[ENDS]

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