Human Rights Watch on Tuesday urged Southern African leaders to send monitors to Zimbabwe to investigate the clampdown on the pro-democracy movement and the spiral of violence and intimidation against activists.
On the eve of a key Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit and in a bid to increase the pressure on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to respect the rule of law, leading Zimbabwean human rights groups said they held a four-hour meeting with a South African team mediating between the government and opposition.
The Crisis in Zimbabwe coalition said it told the chief South African mediator, Sydney Mufamadi, that Zimbabwean authorities must end organised violence and torture ”so that Zimbabweans can live in an atmosphere of peace, freedom and security”.
A statement from the coalition said the electoral framework must be reviewed to make it comply with the barest minimum international standards, and repressive media laws must be repealed.
The SADC summit takes place in Zambia on Thursday and Friday. Leaders were expected to discuss the worsening political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe, and hear from South African President Thabo Mbeki on his efforts to defuse the situation.
There was no immediate comment from South Africa on the meeting and it was unclear whether the mediation team would forward the comments of the Crisis in Zimbabwe coalition, which includes representatives who have been beaten up and tortured by security forces.
The non-governmental groups are not formally represented in the mediation talks between the government and main opposition party. But they share many of the same demands as the Movement for Democratic Change — including the demand that elections scheduled for 2008 must be fair.
In its report, Human Rights Watch said that the Southern African leaders should ”insist on tangible improvements in Zimbabwe” and incorporate human rights concerns in the mediation talks. It said the dispatch of monitors would be an ”essential first step in protecting Zimbabweans from state brutality”.
”The political and human rights crisis in Zimbabwe, which threatens to destabilise the whole region, is crying out for urgent and effective leadership,” the report said.
Mugabe’s government has used methods against critics that range from intimidation, threats and harassment to physical attacks and torture.
Hundreds of activists have been arbitrarily arrested and beaten by police and other security agents, it said.
The report cited the example of the arrest and assault in police custody of more than 200 activists from the National Constitutional Assembly on July 25. It followed the arrest and torture of pro-democracy activists in March.
Attempts to reach Zimbabwean officials on Tuesday, a national holiday in Zimbabwe, were not immediately successful. Mugabe, however, has repeatedly said the use of force against opposition activists is justified, saying they are Western pawns intent on destabilising the country.
Human Rights Watch said Southern African leaders should ”send a clear, visible and unambiguous message” rejecting the Zimbabwean government’s policy of political repression and the unaccountability of its police, army and security forces.
It criticised the lack of action by the 14-member community in the past.
”Only by addressing the human rights violations in Zimbabwe can SADC hope to nurture a political and economic revival in the country,” it said. — Sapa-AP