Amnesty on Thursday warned negotiators not to “sweep under the carpet” gross human rights of the past in a bid to secure a short-term political solution.
The worldwide rights watchdog said: “There can be no lasting political solution to the crisis in Zimbabwe without addressing past human rights violations. While human rights violations must end immediately, investigations must be carried out and alleged perpetrators brought to justice.”
Political violence that followed the MDC’s shock victory in presidential and parliamentary elections last March is said to have killed at least 120 opposition supporters and displaced 200 000 others. Â
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who defeated Mugabe in the March 29 election but failed to secure the margin to take power, withdrew from a June 27 run-off poll saying widespread violence against his supporters made a free and fair vote impossible.
ZANU (PF) militia and some members of the army have been accused of committing most of the violence against MDC supporters. But Mugabe, who went ahead with the presidential run-off election despite Tsvangirai’s withdrawal, has accused the opposition of carrying out violence and blaming it on ZANU (PF).
Amnesty said ignoring the killings and human rights violations in pursuit of a political deal between ZANU (PF) and the MDC was a recipe for “problems further down the road”.
“Any future deal between the parties should not include amnesties, pardons or any other measures that would prevent the emergence of the truth, a final judicial determination of guilt or non-guilt, and full reparations to victims and their families,” it said. Â
The London-based group said although dialogue was underway it continued to receive reports of politically motivated violence and human rights abuses from Zimbabwe, adding that the southern African country remained “blanketed in a climate of fear”.
– ZimOnline
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