(Petaling Jaya, Wednesday): The
European Union has imposed “smart sanctions” on the regime of President
Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, subjecting Mugabe and 19 other senior ministers, army
and police commanders and their families to
a visa ban in Europe and a freeze on their assets abroad, at the political
violence, serious violations of human rights and restrictions on the media which
call into question the prospects of a free and fair presidential elections in
Zimbabwe on March 9.
The
European Union has also withdrawn its entire election observer mission which has
deepened international concerns that human rights violations orchestrated by
Mugabe’s ruling party in the
run-up to the presidential elections will escalate unchecked by impartial
international eyewitnesses.
DAP calls on the
Malaysian Government to spearhead a Commonwealth
initiative to send a larger number of observers to Zimbabwe to judge the
fairness of the presidential elections on 9th March and to check
serious human rights violations.
There
is real danger that the withdrawal of EU observer mission, which is to send the
largest contingent of 150 observers, will give the green light for further
serious human rights violations in Zimbabwe, and other remaining observer teams
from the Commonwealth, the Southern African Development Community (SADC)
Parliametnary Forum and the Organisation of African Unity should send a larger
number of observers to make up for the absence of the EU.
State-sponsored
violence and intimidation are occurring on a daily basis in Zimbabwe in the
run-up to the presidential elections, and in the past two weeks, Amnesty International has documented
numerous grave violations of the right to public assembly and
association.
There
had been regular reports as to how “professional policing” had been
undermined by political
instructions, resulting in rampant
police brutalities and arbitrary arrests.
Eyewitnesses
described one incident where 400
marching supporters of the ruling party were escorted by police two days ago
into the downtown capital city of Harare to storm into the Opposition
headquarters, assaulted its occupants with stones and broke the windows of the
building.
Riot
police remained nearby but did not intervene, and after the 15-minute mob
incident, the riot police then moved in to further assault the victims of the
attack and indiscriminately fired tear gas canisters into the building.
The
Foreign Minister, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar should immediately contact the
Commonwealth to propose the sending of a larger contingent of Commonwealth
observers to Zimbabwe, with Malaysia volunteering to make her full contribution
to the success of the Commonwealth observer mission to ensure free, fair and
clean presidential elections in Zimbabwe next month.
(20/2/2002)