Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Zimbabwean opposition, was charged with high treason by President Robert Mugabe's government yesterday: a defiant response to Zimbabwe's suspension from the Commonwealth. Earlier this week the South African president, Thabo Mbeki, and other neighbouring African leaders urged Mr Mugabe not to press the charge, to create a more conciliatory political climate after last week's bitterly contested presidential election. By going ahead with it Mr Mugabe seems to be showing that he is not interested in negotiations with Mr Tsvangirai.
Since Mr Mugabe was declared the winner on March 13 he has signed into law a repressive press bill and his supporters have begun a campaign of violent retribution against the opposition. Four supporters of Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change have been killed, and a white farmer.
In a courtroom packed with his supporters, Mr Tsvangirai pleaded not guilty to the charge that he sought to hire Canadian political consultants to assassinate Mr Mugabe. His lawyer, Eric Matinenga, said told the court that the charge was "a kneejerk reaction" to Zimbabwe's one-year suspension from Commonwealth membership. "Mr Tsvangirai's stake in this country is too high to think he would run away from allegations that are very weak indeed," Mr Matinenga said.
The MDC's secretary general, Welshman Ncube, who is also charged with treason, said the charges were "an attempt to continue the harassment of the leadership of the MDC and to make it impossible for us to continue to resist an illegitimate government". He said the suggestion that the MDC should enter into a government of national unity with Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party "was always out of the question", adding: "You cannot negotiate a government of national unity with a government you believe to be illegitimate."
Mr Tsvangirai was remanded until April 30 and released on bail of Z$1.5m (£20,000) in cash and Z$3m in property surety. He had to surrender his passport and must appear at his local police station every Monday. Renson Gasela, an MDC MP and the shadow agriculture minister, was also charged with treason and released on bail of Z$500,000. The state said it would produce six witnesses, a videotape and other evidence against Mr Tsvangirai.
Legal experts dismiss the evidence as "unconvincing and circumstantial, at best". But Zimbabwe's judicial system has lost a great deal of its independence and lawyers say that Mr Tsvangirai may not get a fair trial.
As he went to court, most Zimbabweans went to work, ignoring the three-day strike called by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. Virtually all shops and banks were open, but about half the country's factories were closed. Factory workers said the ZCTU had not explained the reasons for the strike. "No one told us what this strike is about," said a machinist who did not want his name used. "I missed work last Monday to vote. If I missed three days this week I would not have enough pay to feed my family. But if the unions had called a protest against the elections and said that clearly, we would have all supported it."
International pressure on Mr Mugabe is continuing to grow. His party's violent retribution against the MDC was criticised yesterday by the Norwegian election observers. "Following the election it quickly emerged that Zanu-PF supporters had embarked on systematic reprisals against opposition members and supporters," said Kare Vollan, the leader of the group, which reported that Mr Mugabe's followers were carrying out arson, beating, torture and killing with "impunity".
Source: The Guardian
Thursday, March 21, 2002
Wednesday, March 20, 2002
Sierra Leone War Crimes Court to Begin Deliberations in Fall
The United Nations is pressing ahead with arrangements for a special war crimes court in Sierra Leone that officials say will be leaner and less bureaucratic than the tribunals that were created to prosecute war criminals in the Balkans and Rwanda. The United Nations signed an agreement with Sierra Leone two months ago creating a legal framework for trying a score of defendants accused of atrocities in the West African country's civil war.
Ralph Zacklin, the assistant secretary general for legal affairs, visited Sierra Leone from Jan. 7 to 19 to lay the groundwork. He said today that the new court could start operating in Sierra Leone by this fall and return its first indictments before the end of the year. Mr. Zacklin briefed the Security Council on the proposed court on Tuesday. Today, he discussed some of the details.
The new court, he said, would enlist judges and lawyers in Sierra Leone as well as prominent jurists from outside the country. Secretary General Kofi Annan would appoint a majority of judges; the Sierra Leonean government would select the other judges and the chief prosecutor. The court in Sierra Leone would have a single trial chamber with three judges, two of them foreign. The appeals chamber would have five judges, three of them foreign. In a report last week to the Security Council, Mr. Annan said the United Nations mission in Sierra Leone, through its human rights section, was in a position to provide evidence of abuses to the prosecutor.
Three weeks ago, the Bush administration's war crimes ambassador, Pierre-Richard Prosper, criticized the tribunals for the Balkans and Rwanda, suggesting they were flawed by unprofessionalism and mismanagement. United Nations officials and other legal experts disputed Mr. Prosper's characterization. The tribunals for Rwanda and the Balkans have annual budgets of $100 million. The Sierra Leone special court, with a smaller staff, would get only $60 million over three years, financed by 15 to 20 countries, including the United States, Britain and the Netherlands. ''A lot of states are looking at the special court to see if this kind of court can work and if it can be leaner'' than the other tribunals, Mr. Zacklin said. He cited Cambodia, which has yet to bring to justice the Khmer Rouge officials who oversaw the killings of more than a million Cambodian civilians. ''I have no doubt whatsoever that the Cambodians are looking at what is happening in Sierra Leone,'' Mr. Zacklin said.
The defendants in Sierra Leone would include the likes of Foday Sankoh, a former army sergeant who headed the Revolutionary United Front. His insurgent group inspired terror by hacking off limbs of thousands of civilians, raping women and forcing children to fight. Some former rebels contend that government soldiers also committed atrocities and should be brought to account. The court is deemed essential for Sierra Leone's return to relative normality. With elections planned for May 14, the government has lifted the state of emergency to allow campaigning by political parties.
The United Nations had 17,400 troops deployed in Sierra Leone as of Jan. 31, making it the largest peacekeeping mission. Mr. Annan asked the Security Council to extend the mission's mandate, which expires at the end of this month, until Sept. 30. The secretary general said in his report that more than 47,000 combatants in Sierra Leone have put aside their weapons.
Source: New York Times
Ralph Zacklin, the assistant secretary general for legal affairs, visited Sierra Leone from Jan. 7 to 19 to lay the groundwork. He said today that the new court could start operating in Sierra Leone by this fall and return its first indictments before the end of the year. Mr. Zacklin briefed the Security Council on the proposed court on Tuesday. Today, he discussed some of the details.
The new court, he said, would enlist judges and lawyers in Sierra Leone as well as prominent jurists from outside the country. Secretary General Kofi Annan would appoint a majority of judges; the Sierra Leonean government would select the other judges and the chief prosecutor. The court in Sierra Leone would have a single trial chamber with three judges, two of them foreign. The appeals chamber would have five judges, three of them foreign. In a report last week to the Security Council, Mr. Annan said the United Nations mission in Sierra Leone, through its human rights section, was in a position to provide evidence of abuses to the prosecutor.
Three weeks ago, the Bush administration's war crimes ambassador, Pierre-Richard Prosper, criticized the tribunals for the Balkans and Rwanda, suggesting they were flawed by unprofessionalism and mismanagement. United Nations officials and other legal experts disputed Mr. Prosper's characterization. The tribunals for Rwanda and the Balkans have annual budgets of $100 million. The Sierra Leone special court, with a smaller staff, would get only $60 million over three years, financed by 15 to 20 countries, including the United States, Britain and the Netherlands. ''A lot of states are looking at the special court to see if this kind of court can work and if it can be leaner'' than the other tribunals, Mr. Zacklin said. He cited Cambodia, which has yet to bring to justice the Khmer Rouge officials who oversaw the killings of more than a million Cambodian civilians. ''I have no doubt whatsoever that the Cambodians are looking at what is happening in Sierra Leone,'' Mr. Zacklin said.
The defendants in Sierra Leone would include the likes of Foday Sankoh, a former army sergeant who headed the Revolutionary United Front. His insurgent group inspired terror by hacking off limbs of thousands of civilians, raping women and forcing children to fight. Some former rebels contend that government soldiers also committed atrocities and should be brought to account. The court is deemed essential for Sierra Leone's return to relative normality. With elections planned for May 14, the government has lifted the state of emergency to allow campaigning by political parties.
The United Nations had 17,400 troops deployed in Sierra Leone as of Jan. 31, making it the largest peacekeeping mission. Mr. Annan asked the Security Council to extend the mission's mandate, which expires at the end of this month, until Sept. 30. The secretary general said in his report that more than 47,000 combatants in Sierra Leone have put aside their weapons.
Source: New York Times
Friday, March 15, 2002
Court orders Gayadin millions held in trust
Sunny Gayadin and his family's millions in foreign banks, local money, and Durban and Dundee properties, are now held in trust, pending an action for them to be forfeit to the state. This order was made by Judge Kondile in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Friday. The curator who is to assume control over the assets is chartered accountant John Waymark of Ernst and Young. Gayadin assented to the order.
In another court on Tuesday, Gayadin and a close corporation admitted liability for damage to the historic Buchanan Street swimming pool in Pietermaritzburg. The pool was closed for six months when its buildings were damaged by illegal demolition of a building ordered by Gayadin.
In Friday's case, Scorpions staff said the vast amounts of money and properties were the proceeds of the Gayadins' illegal casinos. In November 2000 Gayadin paid an admission of guilt fine of R248 250 in the Durban regional court for illegal gambling. Scorpions chartered accountant Keith Flack said the amounts held overseas were transferred in contravention of the exchange control regulations. He said the family's legitimate business interests made a profit of R458 404 from 1995 to 2000, which allowed him to say the Gayadin assets were the proceeds of illegal casinos.
Money held in foreign banks includes R1 324 620 in Barclays Bank in the Isle of Man and R9 091 778 in Standard Charter Bank, Jersey. Also held in trust are local financial assets totalling R1 480 094, properties at 158 West Street, Durban, and 63 Victoria Street, Dundee.
Source: IoL
In another court on Tuesday, Gayadin and a close corporation admitted liability for damage to the historic Buchanan Street swimming pool in Pietermaritzburg. The pool was closed for six months when its buildings were damaged by illegal demolition of a building ordered by Gayadin.
In Friday's case, Scorpions staff said the vast amounts of money and properties were the proceeds of the Gayadins' illegal casinos. In November 2000 Gayadin paid an admission of guilt fine of R248 250 in the Durban regional court for illegal gambling. Scorpions chartered accountant Keith Flack said the amounts held overseas were transferred in contravention of the exchange control regulations. He said the family's legitimate business interests made a profit of R458 404 from 1995 to 2000, which allowed him to say the Gayadin assets were the proceeds of illegal casinos.
Money held in foreign banks includes R1 324 620 in Barclays Bank in the Isle of Man and R9 091 778 in Standard Charter Bank, Jersey. Also held in trust are local financial assets totalling R1 480 094, properties at 158 West Street, Durban, and 63 Victoria Street, Dundee.
Source: IoL
Mugabe signs off draconian press laws
Press freedom in Zimbabwe suffered a further blow today after president Robert Mugabe declared that all journalists have to be licensed by the government. The newly re-elected president also put into law controls that will limit foreign correspondents' freedom to work in the country even more severely.
Mr Mugabe formally enacted the access to information act today. The act was passed in January, but he delayed signing it into law after some of his own supporters expressed reservations about it. It will now be illegal for journalists to operate in Zimbabwe without government accreditation. A state-appointed media commission has been set up with disciplinary powers to withdraw journalists' licences, confiscate equipment and jail journalists for up to two years. It also restricts visits by foreign journalists. Specific assignments have to be cleared first by Zimbabwe's embassies in the journalists' home countries.
The new measures come on top of recently passed security laws, which state that journalists can be prosecuted for criticising Mr Mugabe and his government.
Source: The Guardian
Mr Mugabe formally enacted the access to information act today. The act was passed in January, but he delayed signing it into law after some of his own supporters expressed reservations about it. It will now be illegal for journalists to operate in Zimbabwe without government accreditation. A state-appointed media commission has been set up with disciplinary powers to withdraw journalists' licences, confiscate equipment and jail journalists for up to two years. It also restricts visits by foreign journalists. Specific assignments have to be cleared first by Zimbabwe's embassies in the journalists' home countries.
The new measures come on top of recently passed security laws, which state that journalists can be prosecuted for criticising Mr Mugabe and his government.
Source: The Guardian
Sunday, March 10, 2002
Mugabe: The price of silence
Panorama goes inside Zimbabwe, defying the ban on BBC journalists, and investigates crimes against humanity under Robert Mugabe's rule. The situation is fraught as Mugabe unleashes more terror in a bid to secure re-election as president. Reporter Fergal Keane evades secret police and gangs of war veterans, travelling into southern Zimbabwe to hear accounts from eye-witnesses and victims of Mugabe's bloody campaign in Matabeleland in the 80s.Robert Mugabe is accused of committing mass murder in the early years of his rule. At this time, Britain was giving him huge sums in economic aid and was training the Zimbabwean army. Panorama reveals what the British Government knew about Mugabe's campaign of mass slaughter, and investigates whether anything was done to stop him. The programme asks whether failure to confront Mugabe then gave him the confidence to believe he could get away with murder. A leading British diplomat at the time tells Panorama: "I think this Matabeleland is a side issue, the real issues were much bigger. We were extremely interested that Zimbabwe should be a success story, and we were doing our best to help Mugabe and his people bring that about."
A prominent Church leader in Zimbabwe is furious: "It is gross irresponsibility to call it a side issue. How would he have felt if his own family had been murdered?" Panorama examines whether Britain was right to ignore these atrocities, and whether interventions would have made any difference.
A transcript of the interview can be found here.
A report on the 1980's deistunances in Matabeleland & the Midlands in Zimbabwe complied by the Cathlic Commission of Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe (March 1997) and be found here.
Source: BBC
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