UN Urges Release Of Zimbabwean Activists Detained On Suspicion Of Planning Protests
By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The United Nations’ Human Rights Office has urged Zimbabwean authorities to release over 100 pro-democracy activists arrested and detained on the suspicion that they are planning demonstrations at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit on Saturday.
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Seif Magango told newsmen in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, that his organisation is monitoring the situation.
“We at the U.N. Human Rights Office are concerned by reports of arrest, harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders and political activists in Zimbabwe, in the lead up to the SADC summit,” Magango told VOA via WhatsApp.
“We call for the immediate release of all those arbitrarily detained and for protection of civic space,” he added.
Zimbabwe is playing host to the summit in which it is expected to assume the chairmanship of SADC for the first time since the 16-nation regional bloc became a development community in 1992.
Government had alleged that those arrested are planning to disrupt the summit by staging a protest on Saturday where at least 16 heads of state and government from the region are expected in Harare, the capital.
Apparently taking a cue from countries on the continent where a raft protests have put governments in fear, the pro-democracy activists arrested were said to have planned to draw the attention of bloc leaders to increasing economic woes, corruption and abuse of human rights under the Emerson Mnangagwa.
Kenya, Ghana, Uganda and Nigeria are some countries where government had battled demonstrations related to bad governance and corruption.
“While freedom of expression is a fundamental right, it’s paramount to observe that the enjoyment of that freedom should not be at the expense of the freedom of your fellow citizens,” said Kazembe Kazembe, Zimbabwe’s home affairs minister.
He added, “Freedom of expression does not and cannot mean the right to remove a democratically elected government from office and to replace it with people or [a] party elected by nobody. The opposition has never held any peaceful demonstrations.”
Kazembe said the country’s focus should be on hosting the Saturday summit and not on the “misplaced priorities” of an opposition hoping to stir up civil unrest.
Meanwhile, spokesman for Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, the Citizens Coalition for Change, Promise Mkwananzi welcomed the statement by the U.N. Human Rights Office as proof that the “crisis” in the country had transcended its borders.
“It is the prerogative of the international institutions like the U.N. to hold Zimbabwe to account and to call for the halt of harassment and arrest of activists in Zimbabwe,” Mkwananzi said. “Welcome the statement indeed, we ratify the statement and indeed it is true: Zimbabwe must release all political prisoners and SADC must not be party to the persecution of Zimbabwe for the sake of hosting this summit.”
Heritage Times HT reports that the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) has remained in power for several years and has played a significant role in the country’s political landscape for many years, including during its liberation struggle.
President Mnangagwa has however faced criticism both locally and internationally on handling of issues related to governance, human rights, and the handling of the economy, as well as the Southern African country’s debt profile.
