Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and the party’s secretary general, Welshman Ncube, could not attend the launch of the African Union (AU) in Durban this week. Their passports and other identification documents had been confiscated by the Zanu-PF regime, making travel impossible, the MDC’s Sekai Holland said.
Tsvangirai and Ncube are facing treason charges, which the MDC claims have been trumped up.
Holland, who represented her party in Durban, called for more details on the ”peer review mechanism” contained in the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad),which will enable the AU to ensure that all countries on the continent follow democratic practices.
Holland called on the AU and two of its members — South Africa and Nigeria — in particular, to push for an interim government in Zimbabwe. The MDC rejected the results of the presidential poll in March.
South Africa and Nigeria tried to mediate between the Zanu-PF and the MDC in a bid to set up a transitional government in Zimbabwe but failed.
In a message to the AU released at the launch of a ”Save Zimbabwe” campaign in Durban, Tsvangirai urged the leaders to ”deliver a clear and unequivocal message to [President] Robert Mugabe that his abuse of Zimbabweans is totally unacceptable as this flouts standards set by both regional and continental organisations.”
The Save Zimbabwe campaign, which hopes to emulate the anti-apartheid campaign of the 1970s and 1980s, aims to restore human rights and democracy in Zimbabwe. The MDC said it endorsed the campaign, which is run by Zimbabwean sympathisers settled outside the country. The campaigners are calling for new presidential elections.
Tsvangirai asked in a statement: ”When we talk of Nepad, what credibility can Africa have in the eyes of the world community when rogue rule in Zimbabwe flouts all international expectations of justice, human rights and democracy?”