HARARE A defence attach at the United States embassy in Harare said last week that soldiers who commit crimes like torture and murder must be brought to justice. Speaking at a public meeting last Tuesday on the role of the military in a democracy Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick Anderson said every professional army must have clear guidelines on military justice to ensure perpetrators of offences were brought to book. Anderson said he did not have adequate knowledge of Zimbabwe to comment authoritatively about reports of atrocities and rights abuses by the Zimbabwe Defence Forces. But he said ruled governing the conduct of armies the world over prohibited ill treatment of civilians by soldiers.
He gave the example of US soldiers who were jailed recently for torturing terror suspects at Guantanamo prison in Cuba. Some of the soldiers were tried and convicted in civilian courts, he said. He also pointed out that soldiers in uniform should not take part in political activities, although they could exercise their political rights when off-duty. Ive got my own politics. I vote in elections but Ill not express those ideas in uniform, he said in comments that will certainly find few takers in Zimbabwes highly politicised army.
Zimbabwes army and police are credited with keeping President Robert Mugabe in power after waging a ruthless campaign of violence last year to force then opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to withdraw from a second round presidential poll that analysts had strongly tipped the former opposition leader to win. Tsvangirai had beaten Mugabe in the first round ballot but failed to achieve outright victory to avoid the second round run-off poll.
The former foes eventually bowed to pressure from southern African leaders to agree to form a government of national unity that analysts say offers Zimbabwe the best opportunity to end its multi-faceted crisis.
Post published in: News