The proclamation, presented this week by Councilman Patrick Dowd in Pittsburgh’s City Council Chambers, expressed solidarity with those in Zimbabwe who have continued to speak out against the violence, to demand that their voices be heard, and to push for a free and fair run-off election…
It began by noting Zimbabwe’s security forces, known as the Joint Operations Command’ under command responsibility of Robert Mugabe, (have been) orchestrating and carrying out a campaign of murder, torture and political violence since the March 29 elections….
Referring to a Human Rights Watch report released this month, it stated that opposition leaders, human rights advocates, election monitors and others advocating peacefully for a free Zimbabwe continue to be abducted, imprisoned or detained.
The use of violence and intimidation is abhorrent to the values of the residents of the City of Pittsburgh …. freedom from fear, torture and inhumane treatment is an inherent right of all human beings, the proclamation stressed.
Other cities around the United States and the world were invited to join in the proclamation of solidarity and to declare this Friday Zimbabwe Freedom Day.
Zimbabwe’s neighbours close ranks against Mugabe
Although the SADC region has until recently been criticised for not taking a stronger stand on the Zimbabwean crisis, the country’s neighbours are now closing ranks against Mugabe.
On June 24, South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) President Jacob Zuma described the situation in Zimbabwe as out of control and called for urgent intervention by the United Nations and the regional SADC grouping. He said the elections were totally discredited.
Former President Nelson Mandela, speaking at a dinner in London on June 25, said in his first public comments about the country’s political crisis that there had been a tragic failure of leadership in Zimbabwe.
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa said that quiet diplomacy has failed to help solve the political chaos and meltdown in Zimbabwe. The twist of events in the troubled country necessitates the adoption of a new approach.
Kenyans expressed their solidarity when they hosted Zimbabwe in a World Cup qualifying soccer match. The 36 000-stong crowd chanted in unison: Mugabe must go, Mugabe must go.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has pledged to work urgently with SADC and the African Union (AU) to help resolve the political impasse that forced opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to withdraw from the Presidential run-off.
“The campaign of violence and intimidation that has marred this election has done a great disservice to the people of the country and must end immediately,” he concluded.
Post published in: News