Zim rejects calls for more foreign monitors

Zim rejects calls for more foreign monitors
By George Chellah in Harare, Zimbabwe
Monday May 19, 2008 [04:00]

ZIMBABWEAN authorities have rejected calls for additional foreign election observers for the presidential runoff on June 27. And the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) has strongly condemned the alarming escalation of post election violence specifically targeting its observers. Foreign affairs minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi announced on state media, the authorities' decision not to invite additional international observers for the runoff.

"The invitations we sent at the beginning are still valid. There would be no further invitations," Mumbengegwi said.

During the March 29 elections, Zimbabwe invited 47 regional and sub-regional organisations as well as nations from Asia, Africa, America and only one European country - Russia - to observe the elections.

Among those invited included all SADC member states alongside 10 other countries on the continent, which include Senegal, Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Libya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Sudan.

The five Asian countries that were also invited include China, India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Iran. The four American countries are Brazil, Jamaica, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

Mumbengegwi defended the decision after heavy criticisms from the opposition MDC and Western governments stating that the observers were selected on the basis of reciprocity, objectivity and impartiality in their relationship with Zimbabwe.

And ZESN condemned the alarming escalation of post-election violence against its observers.

"ZESN observers have been under siege from suspected ZANU-PF supporters in various parts of the country. Observers have been abducted, severely assaulted and injured, sometimes requiring hospitalisation. In another distressing incident, where observers had sought medical treatment at Mt Darwin Hospital, nurses were assaulted for assisting victims of political violence, forcing observers to flee the hospital, fearing for their own lives," ZESN stated. "

Some ZESN observers have been subjected to harassment and intimidation while homesteads and property have been destroyed. Some homesteads were looted targeting clothing and food reserves.

Hundreds of observers have been displaced while some have been reduced to hiding in the woods for days before making their way to seek refuge in Harare and other places."

They stated that to date, at least 30 observers had been provided with shelter through the network while 155 were reported to be staying with friends and relatives.

"We believe that a lot more have been affected and have not been able to communicate with the network. As an institution, the network has also been the recipient of heightened attention from the police and security forces. The ZESN chairperson, national director and programmes manager have been detained and questioned on several occasions by the police," ZESN stated. "Questioning focused on ZESN's election monitoring and observation of the ongoing 2008 harmonized elections; the network's projections of the Presidential results as well as financial and other issues. On the 25th of April, the organisation's offices and the national director's home were searched by police officers from the Law and Order section of the Criminal Investigation Department."

ZESN stated that a number of files and documents were seized from both premises.

"Various allegations against the organisation have been made by some sections of the media including pronouncements by senior government officials that ZESN is a pro-MDC organisation that was used to bribe ZEC officials during the 29 March 2008 harmonised elections as well as campaigning for the opposition under the guise of voter education. These allegations are unfounded and seem to be calculated efforts bent on discrediting and intimidating ZESN before the runoff," ZESN stated.

However, the organisation vowed to continue doing its work.