Johannesburg | Monday
THE Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said the Commonwealth should urgently reconvene the special committee on Zimbabwe to discuss violations of the Abuja agreement and to insist that President Robert Mugabe sign the agreement, SABC radio news reported.
In a letter to the secretary general of the Commonwealth, Don McKinnon, Leon said at least 20 farms have been invaded since the Abuja agreement was formulated on September 6, and that farming on about 900 farms is still being severely disrupted.
In addition, three people have been killed in political violence.
Leon also calls for international monitors to be deployed to oversee adherence to the Abuja agreement, specifically to curb violence and restore the rule of law to illegally-occupied farms.
In terms of the agreement, Britain would pay towards compensation for farms expropriated for the landless, and Zimbabwe would stop the illegal occupation of farms, the SABC said.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s opposition urged the Commonwealth on Monday to ensure presidential elections in the strife-torn African nation are fair and free of violence.
Two members of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), international affairs secretary Sekai Holland, and parliamentarian Roy Bennet came to Brisbane to lobby for support at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) which was to have started here this week.
Bennet, a white farmer who was elected to the Zimbabwe parliament in a majority black electorate, said the visit to Australia had to go ahead despite last week’s decision to postpone CHOGM.
”The crisis in Zimbabwe is too critical to wait for CHOGM to be rescheduled next year,” Bennet said.
He said the Commonwealth heads of state needed to be made aware of the real situation in Zimbabwe, where hundreds of white-owned farms have been invaded by supporters of President Robert Mugabe since February 2000.
Bennet warned that the situation had not changed despite Mugabe agreeing at talks in Abuja, Nigeria, last month to end the occupation of white farms and restore the rule of law to land reform.
”The violence and farm invasions have not stopped, in spite of the Abuja accord,” he said.
A presidential election must be held no later than the end of March next year, which Bennet said meant it was crucial to gain quick Commonwealth support for an observer team.
The Commonwealth, including Australia, had been instrumental in helping Zimbabwe to obtain independence by ousting the Ian Smith regime and allowing Mugabe to take power.
”That regime was put there by the very people we are talking to now,” he said.
”I think they have a duty and an obligation to give democracy the same assistance now that they gave it then.”
Holland said support in Australia for an observer team had to be turned into action.
”We need independent observers in Zimbabwe, otherwise the upcoming presidential election will be a nightmare of violence and repression,” she said. – Sapa, AFP