/ 1 January 2002

Zimbabwe government ‘summons’ UN official

A top UN official in Zimbabwe has been summoned to government offices to explain why a UN employee travelled outside the capital without permission, a newspaper said on Friday.

Last week a group from the US embassy, which included a US national, a UN worker and two Zimbabweans were detained on a farm north of Harare where they had gone to assess the plight of displaced farm workers.

The two Zimbabweans were assaulted, according to the US embassy here. The US government immediately protested the incident. The Zimbabwe government in turn said the group had breached a government order given to all diplomats to seek permission before travelling more than 40 kilometres outside Harare.

The state-controlled Herald newspaper reported that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) deputy resident representative Bernard Mokam was summoned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to explain why a UN employee had breached travel protocol.

The US ambassador to Zimbabwe, Joseph Sullivan, was also summoned, the paper said.

”Sources in the Protocol Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Mr Mokam was summoned and told about the importance of complying with the Government order,” the paper said.

Rights groups here estimate that as many as 200 000 farm workers and their families have been displaced by a controversial land reform programme, and are among nearly seven million Zimbabweans currently in need of emergency food aid.

The government denies that any farm workers have been displaced. – Sapa-AFP