October 31, 2008

HARARE, Zimbabwe– Christian students in Zimbabwe have accused the United Nations of taking a soft stance towards their country's human rights record while insisting that only the world body can resolve the southern African nation's political and economic crises.

"The crisis in Zimbabwe is worsening each day. Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front dictators are becoming more and more arrogant and yet the world's biggest institution is not taking any action," the Student Christian Movement of Zimbabwe (SCMZ) said in a statement on October 28.

Once a model of economic and political stability, Zimbabwe's rights record has been tainted in recent years by state-sponsored violence against opponents of Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party, who have ruled the southern African country since its independence in 1980.

The U.N. has sent various envoys to Zimbabwe. These have included Haile Menkerios of Eritrea who came to seek a solution to long-standing tensions between Mugabe's party and the main opposition, and Anna Tibaijuka and Jan Egeland who came to assess the aftermath of a controversial urban clean-up drive which left hundreds of thousands homeless.

But the student movement said the visits by the U.N. envoys should be followed by action against the Zimbabwean government.

"SCMZ challenges the U.N. to get beyond sending envoys and observer missions," the students said.

China and Russia in July vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution for targeted sanctions against some Zimbabwean leaders.

On October 29, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that Mugabe had disappointed the international community.

Talks to resolve the Zimbabwe crisis "have been taking too long," Ban said, speaking in the Philippines. "I sincerely hope that President Mugabe will no longer disappoint the international community ... He should meet the expectations of the international community."

The student organization said the reason why only the United Nations could help Zimbabwe out of its crisis was that attempts by the main regional African grouping, the Southern African Development Community, to forge a power-sharing government between Zanu-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change had stalled over the allocation of key government ministries.

On October 27, some SADC heads of state held meetings with the political rivals aimed at closing the rift between them but their bid failed, prompting them to refer the matter to a full meeting of the regional body.

"Their [SADC] interventions are however limited by the nature of African history and the ‘brotherhood' whereby it is very difficult for African leaders to stand firm against the irresponsible Zimbabwean government," the Zimbabwe students said. "This leaves the U.N. as the only institution with the real power to provide solutions for the crisis in Zimbabwe."

Meanwhile, the leader of the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe, Bishop Sebastian Bakare, has won this year's Swedish Per Anger prize for his work to promote human rights in Zimbabwe.

Earlier in October, Bakare issued a pastoral letter castigating state corruption and blaming Mugabe's government for a general breakdown of social service that has seen at least 30 people die of cholera over the past month, as residential areas in several towns went for up to two weeks without running water.

Episcopal News Service
Ecumenical News International