Britain’s United Nations ambassador on Friday asked for a Security Council briefing on the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe, citing the recent attack on the country’s opposition leader, continuing oppression and an economic meltdown.
Emyr Jones Parry said he sought a briefing from the UN secretariat because of ”the impossibility of the present situation”, which includes an inflation rate of 1 740%, and the implications for the ordinary people of Zimbabwe and, potentially, for the region.
Separately, he said, Britain — Zimbabwe’s former colonial ruler — is also seeking a full discussion of recent events in the country by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, who was beaten savagely by police on Sunday, went home from the hospital on Friday but was suffering dizzy spells, aides said. He and other party leaders and activists were arrested while headed to a prayer meeting of an alliance of opposition, church, student and civic groups.
The country’s opposition vowed to finish off its campaign to topple President Robert Mugabe as Tsvangirai left hospital. Senior Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) officials and other opposition leaders promised to take to the streets again to demonstrate against the government, and took a swipe at African leaders whose response to the assaults has so far been muted.
”We are in the final phase of the final push,” said MDC secretary general Tendai Biti. ”We are going to do anything by democratic means to defeat the regime of Robert Mugabe.”
Mugabe’s critics accuse him of repression and corruption, and blame him for acute food shortages and the world’s highest inflation rate. Sunday’s violence heightened growing tensions in urban strongholds of the opposition, and renewed questions about how long the 83-year-old leader can maintain his tight grip on power.
Mugabe has lashed out at Western support for what he called violent opposition activists and told his growing number of critics to ”go hang”. He warned opposition militants against inciting unrest, threatening: ”If they do it again, we will bash them again.”
Jones Parry said ”facing an economic meltdown with the political situation, which has been widely condemned for its oppression of the opposition and now this brutality, I think it’s right that we should ask for that briefing”.
He said there was no objection to the request, ”and my assumption is that that will happen”.
Jones Parry said Zimbabwe is formally on the Security Council’s agenda.
South Africa’s UN ambassador, Dumisani Kumalo, the current council president, said his government does not believe the issue of Zimbabwe belongs in the Security Council.
”It’s not a matter of threatening international peace and security,” he said. ”So to bring it to this council is surprising. But all that has been called for is the secretariat to brief the council when it is ready about the situation.” — Sapa-AP, AFP