HARARE A coalition of international non-governmental organizations led by British charity Oxfam International has launched a campaign against selling arms to countries like Zimbabwe, saying the weapons could end up in the wrong hands and used to oppress people. Many people believe it is the army that stopped the former opposition party from taking pOxfam and 11 NGO allies said in a report released last week all international arms transfers should be authorized based on criteria centred on international human rights law, international humanitarian law and sustainable development.
Oxfam executive director Jeremy Hobbs said the world should come up with a robust arms treaty that would make it harder for warlords and dictators to obtain new arms and ammunition.
Dangerous arms deals like recent deals with Chad, Zimbabwe or Libya should be avoided as thousands of weapons can end up in the wrong hands. In all these cases, the sale of arms should have never been authorized,” Hobbs said.
South Africas opposition Democratic Alliance reported in August that President Robert Mugabe was stockpiling arms and ammunition in preparation for another round of terror to cow hapless Zimbabweans ahead of next years constitutional referendum.
The report compiled by two DA legislators who visited Zimbabwe in July said the Zimbabwean strongman was stockpiling modern weapons and was due to receive another shipment of ammunition from the South African government.
According to the report compiled by DA parliamentarians Wilmot James and Kenneth Mubu, Pretoria had already sold an unspecified number of 9mm and 7.2mm ammunition to the Zimbabwe Defence Forces and the South African Parliaments National Conventional Arms Control Committee was also considering authorizing more than a million rounds of bullets for export to Harare.
Besides South Africa, other countries cited as arming Mugabe were the Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea.
More than 200 people most of them MDC supporters were killed during the wild violence scenes that accompanied the second round of the 2008 disputed presidential polls.
Oxfam and its partners said the NGOs talks to establish an effective international treaty on the trade in conventional arms were going on at a snail’s pace because of self interest and delaying tactics by some major arms exporters.
Governments are meeting this month at the United Nations in New York in a make-or-break debate to decide whether to officially kick start formal negotiations on creating an arms trade treaty.
A robust treaty could limit the flow of weapons and ammunition and prevent arms deals that fuel poverty, conflict, armed crime and abuse of human rights.
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