Armscor Breaks Zim Boycott
News24 (SA) (June 7, 2005)

Photo: zwnews.com

Spares supplied in March –– Pretoria - Armscor has sold spare parts to the value of more than R1m to the Zimbabwean government, which will enable the country's Alouette helicopters to take to the air again despite European sanctions. In addition, the South African government donated equipment to the value of more than R3m for this purpose to Zimbabwe. A Zimbabwean company - which was, according to information, established by high-ranking members of the South African military community - will apparently undertake the upgrading of the helicopters. Under normal circumstances, the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) has to grant permission and issue a permit before military equipment can be exported to another country, but in this instance the regulation was waived as the NCACC regarded the transaction as a commercial and not a military matter. The NCACC informed Armscor that it was not necessary for the committee to issue an export permit as the spare parts did not fall under the weapons control act, said Armscor spokesperson Bertus Cilliers. The spares were advertised on Armscor's website as obsolete equipment and the Zimbabwean government made an offer to buy it, said Cilliers. The spares were supplied to Zimbabwe in March this year.

The South African air force is in the process of phasing out its Alouette fleet, which will be replaced by new Italian helicopters. The sale of the spare parts cropped up last year after Zimbabwe had tried in vain to obtain spare parts for its fleet of Alouette helicopters. Several European countries have sanctions in place against Zimbabwe, which means that the country faces many closed doors. Zimbabwe is furthermore on the United Nations' blacklist of countries to which no weapons may be sold. Refer.

Army Helicopters In Show Of Force Ahead Of Stayaway
Zwnews.com (June 7, 2005)

Photo: zwnews.com
Harare - Army helicopters patrolled the skies over Harare’s restive working class suburbs yesterday while on the ground plain clothes police advised residents to "leave politics alone" as tension gripped Zimbabwe two days before an opposition-led mass job stayaway. The police have also mounted roadblocks on all major roads leading into the capital’s central business district with motorists being thoroughly searched for weapons that could be used to commit violence. Extra police have also been deployed in Zimbabwe’s other four biggest cities of Bulawayo, Gweru, Mutare and Masvingo in what police insiders said was a show of force designed to intimidate Zimbabweans from participating in the work stayaway planned for Thursday and Friday this week. Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi threatened to come hard on organisers of the stayaway should it degenerate into violence. "The police are carrying out their usual routine roadblocks - we are ready to take head-on any disturbances which might happen as a result of that stay away," Mohadi told Zim Online.

N.B: to read more on this story CLICK HERE.
Refer

FreeAfrica news has received information yet to be confirmed,
that Zimbabwe’s Mugabe government is underway to implement
plans of refusing any Zimbabwean citizen under the age of 30 years
from either receiving a passport or even leaving the country.
The regime’s plans which will be seen as a major blow to the
people Freedom Of Movement rights will be an addition to all other
peoples’ rights that the Zimbabwe Mugabe regime has stripped the
people of. The cost of obtaining a passport in Zimbabwe is now
estimated to be over $1,3million, Zimbabwe currency (about US$144),
a clear indication that the travel document is now meant only for the
elite/rich members of society. To obtain the passport, even upon
paying such large amounts of money, one may also have to accompany
the payment with a bribe to ensure consideration by an official.

FreeAfrica Sends Condolences To Zimbabwe’s Victims
FreeAfrica (June 6, 2005)

FreeAfrica would like to express its deepest condolences to
the millions of victims of Zimbabwe Zanu PF terrorist regime.
Our people have suffered enough and it is now time that the
international community came in before the situation in Zimbabwe
gets further out of control than it is now. Zimbabweans will not
appreciate the interference of the international community
after-the-fact.

FreeAfrica also urges Mugabe’s Zimbabwe regime to cease
perpetrating gross human rights violations against innocent civilians,
using food and rape as a weapon of retaining political ground,
and also imposing gross laws of State that impede people from
freedom of expression, movement, speech, association, etc.
The actions of this regime, acting under the false powers and
comfort of impunity must be adequately visited by international
powers such as the United Nations, the European Union,
the African Union, and the Southern African Development
Coordination Council. Why does a major catastrophe have to
happen in Zimbabwe before the world acknowledges the
evil being visited upon innocent civilians?

To our fellow Zimbabwean counterparts, please do not lose hope.
The struggle continues… soon justice and freedom will prevail.

Zimbabwe: Security Forces Ready to 'Deal' With Protests
Against Evictions
IRIN news (June 6, 2005)

The Zimbabwean government placed its security forces on high
alert on Monday, in the event of a mass stay-away to protest
against the forced eviction of informal settlers in and around
the capital, Harare.

A broad alliance comprising the Zimbabwe Congress of
| Trade Unions (ZCTU); the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA),
a coalition of civil societies; the main opposition Movement for
Democratic Change; and several other civic bodies have urged
people to stay away from work on Thursday and Friday this week.
The eviction campaign - described officially as an attempt to rid the
capital of illegal structures, businesses and criminal activities -
began three weeks ago and has left thousands of people homeless
and without a source of income. Refer.

ZIMBABWE: War Vets Threaten Action Against Forced Eviction
IRIN news (June 6, 2005)

JOHANNESBURG - The Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans
Association (ZNLWVA) has warned that its members will fight the security forces if the crackdown dubbed 'Operation Restore Order' is extended
to farms.

Security Minister Didymus Mutasa reportedly said last week that the operation, which has led to the arrest of over 22,000 people and the displacement of | several thousands would proceed to the farms to deal with illegal settlers and owners of multiple farms.

The government said the operation was aimed at returning order and
normality in urban areas, in addition to putting an end to parallel market trading, which has been flourishing on the back of crippling food shortages.

ZNLWVA chairman Jabulani Sibanda told IRIN that he did not know of any illegal settlers among the war veterans and the poor, and claimed his organisation was only aware of multiple farm owners and illegal settlers among ministers, provincial governors, members of the ruling ZANU-PF politburo and other party organs.

He alleged that the recent urban clean-up exercise was an inhuman act, used to target poor people because they were seen to be opposed to
certain cliques in the ruling party.

"As war veterans, we will not be surprised if they move into the farms -
but what we want known is that we are against any exercise that causes loss or homelessness to any Zimbabwean. This is not a ZANU-PF
programme; it runs contrary to all the ideals the party has stood for.
It is unjust and we will not take it lying down.

N.B: to read more on this story please CLICK HERE.
Refer.

Tanzania’s President Defends Mugabe
Business Day (SA) (June 6, 2005)

“Zimbabwe has a right to manage its own affairs”

Cape Town - Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa strongly defended
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe at a meeting of the World
Economic Forum in Cape Town yesterday. “Zimbabwe has a right to
manage its own affairs,” Mkapa said yesterday. In reply to a journalist’s
question about his views on developments in Zimbabwe, Mkapa said
Mugabe’s land-redistribution programme was, “returning the ownership
of the country to its people”. His remarks have confirmed further the
Southern African Development Community’s reluctance to distance itself from Mugabe on governance issues. But the Tanzanian president’s
strident remarks in support of Mugabe also run counter to the message
that the World Economic Forum is pushing at its Cape Town meeting -
that of a continent increasingly unprepared to tolerate poor governance.
Issues of governance and accountability and how Africa can establish
a common brand to promote the continent to investors are the focus of
talks at the Cape Town meeting. Refer.

Mugabe's human rubbish dump
Zwnews.com (June 6, 2005)

On the President’s orders, 200,000 people have been forced out of
illegal townships

When President Mugabe’s Government announced plans to “clean up”
the country’s cities more than two weeks ago, many Zimbabweans
wondered what the innocent-sounding phrase really meant. Now they know. Thousands of street stalls demolished. More than 23,000 informal workers arrested. Entire neighbourhoods burnt to the ground or razed by bulldozers. Hundreds of thousands of poor people left homeless in the middle of winter.

The authoritarian regime has called the continuing campaign to curb
illegal trading and housing Operation Murambatsvina, or “Drive Out Rubbish”.

Human rights organisations call it something different. It is a “blatant
violation of civil, political, economic and social rights”, Amnesty International said. The normally cautious United Nations said last week that the eviction of 200,000 people was creating a new kind of apartheid, where the cities were only for the rich. Miloon Kothari, the UN special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, told reporters: “We have a very grave crisis on our hands.”

Zimbabwe’s state-run media has quoted government officials as saying that the operations were vital to reduce crime and stop cities turning into shantytowns.

N.B: to read more on this story CLICK HERE.
Refer.

Opposition Groups Call for Strikes in Zimbabwe
Scotsman.com news (June 5, 2005)

A shadowy coalition of civil groups and opponents of President Robert
Mugabe called today for mass strikes to bring Zimbabwe to a halt,
while churches stepped up criticism of a government clampdown on
shack dwellers and street traders.

Shielding its identity and headquarters in fear of Mugabe’s draconian
security legislation, an hitherto unknown organisation calling itself the
“Broad Alliance” distributed leaflets and mobile phone messages
urging a nationwide strike on Thursday and Friday.
“Take to the streets,” one message said.

Police confirmed the seriousness with which authorities were taking
the challenge to 81-year-old Mugabe’s 25-year rule, saying they had
deployed extra manpower to suppress protests.

At least 23,000 people have been arrested in Mugabe’s two-week
blitz on street traders and shack dwellers, police said. A United Nations
human rights expert in Geneva estimated 200,000 had been left
homeless, with 2 million more under threat.

The only established group so far to publicly call for protests against
the destruction of homes and livelihoods has been the feminist group
Women Of Zimbabwe Arise, with about 10,000 supporters.
The call, however, could put its leaders at risk a 20-year prison term
for “attempting to coerce the government.”
The privately owned Sunday Standard reported that the “Broad Alliance”
had tacit backing of the main opposition party, the Movement for
Democratic Change, as well as trades unions, churches and
reform groups, although none would formally confirm this.
Lovemore Madhuku, leader of the National Constitutional Assembly
which galvanised public rejection of Mugabe’s planned new constitution
in February 2000, said the Alliance was “prepared to provide leadership
to the masses in their struggle against the oppressive dictatorship.”
“The regime has turned against the people to the extent of beating them up, destroying their homes and stalls,” he said.The government mouthpiece, the Sunday Mail, reported the blitz on shack dwellers had been extended yesterday into Harare’s crowded township of Highfield, despite reports Mugabe had ordered a halt. Police and city officials “destroyed illegal structures without much resistance,” the Sunday Mail said.A non-denominational grouping of churches in Bulawayo, 311 miles south west of the capital, accused Mugabe of deliberately creating a famine.

“Worse still, we are aware of many instances in which members of the
opposition MDC or those perceived to be sympathetic ... are deliberately and systematically being denied access to food,” said Christians Together for Justice and Peace.

Any who “acquiesced in this evil policy” were guilty of grave crimes
against humanity, said a statement.

N.B: to read more on this story CLICK HERE.
Refer.

UN: Gross violations by Zimbabwe
Zwnews.com (June 4, 2005)

"New kind of apartheid where rich and poor are segregated”

Geneva - The United Nations on Friday urged Zimbabwe's government to halt its campaign of mass evictions, saying it was a clear violation of human rights. Zimbabwe's policy of evicting urban poor and demolishing their shacks around the country - in what the government calls a cleanup
campaign - represents a form of apartheid and must be halted,
said Miloon Kothari, a UN expert on the right to adequate housing.
"We are seeing in the world, and Zimbabwe is a good example now,
the creation of a new kind of apartheid where the rich and the poor are
being segregated," Kothari told reporters. Over 200,000 people have
already lost their homes and a further 30,000 people have been detained
since the government began the crackdown on May 19, he said.

"The vast majority are homeless in the streets," Kothari said. "This kind
of a mass eviction drive is a classic case where the intention appears
to be that Harare become a city for the rich, for the middle class,
for those that are well-off ... and the poor are to be pushed away."
Amnesty International has also condemned the crackdown,
saying it has left whole communities without shelter and destroyed
thousands of livelihoods. Refer.

Desperation On The Streets
BBC News world (June 2, 2005)

Commuter buses are now so rare that people have to push for places

Zimbabwean cobbler Edwell - not his real name - has been mending shoes on the streets of the capital, Harare, for nearly 20 years. But the 46-year-old tells the BBC News website how police forced him off the pavement as part of a crackdown on the country's huge informal business sector.

It was just past noon when a Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) pick-up
truck drove up to the pavement where I sit and mend shoes.
Two policemen accompanied by two other men got out. As they walked
towards me they said: "You need to take your things and go." I asked
them why but they refused to explain. They were very firm and just kept
saying: "We don't want you, we don't want you here, we want you to go
from this place." Even though I was so afraid, I tried arguing with
them but I failed.

N.B: to read a full report on this story CLICK HERE.
Refer.

SOUTHERN AFRICA: New research questions link between
food crisis and AIDS
IRIN news (June 1, 2005)

Photo: IRIN

JOHANNESBURG- The link between HIV/AIDS and hunger in rural communities has received a great deal of attention in Southern Africa, where HIV/AIDS seems to have added a new dimension to the region's four-year-long food crisis.

But a new report has argued that although HIV/AIDS constitutes a humanitarian catastrophe, the impact of the epidemic was not a major cause of the region's food crisis during 2001 and 2004.

The study by the Overseas Development Institute's (ODI) Forum for Food Security in Southern Africa, noted that in Zimbabwe, poor policy choices were the main reasons why the food crisis dragged on. Widespread chronic poverty also contributed to the emergency, which at its peak, had up to 7.5 million out of a population of 11.6 million in need of food aid.

N.B: to read more on this story, CLICK HERE.
Refer.

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