Zimbabwean Presidential Election, 2008 - SADC Emergency Meeting - Allegations of Violence, Further International Response

Allegations of Violence, Further International Response

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on 17 April that, if a second round was held, international observers should be present. On 18 April, the foreign ministers of the G8 released a joint statement calling for the results "to be released expeditiously and in accordance with the due process of law" and for "a speedy, credible and genuinely democratic resolution to this situation". Biti met with former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 18 April, and on 19 April Annan suggested that African leaders should be doing more to help resolve the situation.

In a report on 19 April, Human Rights Watch alleged that "Zanu-PF members are setting up torture camps to systematically target, beat, and torture people suspected of having voted for the MDC", both to punish them and to pressure them into voting for Mugabe in a potential second round. The group asserted that there must be high-level complicity in this and criticised SADC and Mbeki for inaction. According to Human Rights Watch, it interviewed over 30 people who had suffered injuries in the camps.

Biti, speaking at a press conference in Johannesburg on 20 April, described Zimbabwe as a "war zone" and urged the mobilisation of UN organisations in the country, saying that the situation was no longer merely a political crisis, but a humanitarian crisis as well. According to Biti, 500 MDC supporters had been attacked, 400 had been arrested, and ten had been killed; he also said that 3,000 families had been displaced. Because key members of the administration of the MDC had been arrested, the party was unable to function, according to Biti. Like Tsvangirai, Biti was staying outside of Zimbabwe, expressing fear of arrest. On 21 April, Deputy Information Minister Matonga dismissed the allegations of violence against the opposition as "lies that are being peddled by the MDC". He said that the purported ZANU-PF vigilante groups were "imaginary".

On 21 April 2008, Enos Nkala, one of the founders of the Zimbabwe African National Union and a former Defence Minister, appealed to Mugabe to retire because he had been rejected by the people. "I have information from very reliable sources that on 1 April, everyone had the results including those of the presidential elections," he said. "The President wanted to go but there are people surrounding him who have committed heinous crimes against the people of Zimbabwe and they are afraid of a change of guard... Zanu PF was formed in my house in Harare and what is happening now is not one of the reasons why it was formed... It has been hijacked by criminals and people who can not be employed if they leave government. They are also holding Zimbabweans to ransom." Meanwhile, Dabengwa, who had backed Makoni, said that Makoni's campaign had accomplished its mission by preventing either Mugabe or Tsvangirai from winning a first round majority; he opposed holding a run-off and favoured the formation of a transitional government of national unity followed by a new election.

Also on 21 April, UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband, speaking in the British Parliament, described the situation as a "constitutional crisis" and said that Mugabe was trying "to steal the election"; he also said that Mugabe and ZANU-PF had "unleashed a campaign of violence" against opposition supporters. He furthermore described the pace of vote counting as "ludicrously slow" and said that the recount could not be trusted. Meanwhile, Zuma, who described the delay in results as unacceptable, called for African leaders to "move in to unlock this logjam" by sending a mission to talk to the parties and the Electoral Commission; he said that, while Mbeki was the mediator, the "gravity of the situation" made it desirable to send other leaders to assist in resolving the situation.

On 21 April, the East Africa Law Society called an emergency Pan-African Citizens consultative meeting to be held in Dar es Salaam. It was to urge the African Union to take action on the election crisis in Zimbabwe. It brings together representatives of civil society, the legal fraternity, trade unions, academia and others.

Tsvangirai met with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at a meeting of the UN Conference on Trade and Development in Accra, Ghana, on 21 April, and he urged intervention by the United Nations and African Union.

In a joint statement on 22 April, the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference, and the Zimbabwe Council of Churches called on SADC, the AU, and the UN to act to prevent the situation from deteriorating further, warning of the possibility of "genocide" if they did not. The statement alleged that "organised violence" was being employed against those suspected of supporting the MDC and that MDC supporters were being forced to repeat ZANU-PF slogans; it appealed for an end to voter intimidation.

At a press conference in Accra on 22 April, Tsvangirai asked African leaders to acknowledge his claimed victory and said that Mugabe needed to make a "graceful" and "honourable" exit. The Herald published an opinion piece by Obediah Mukura Mazombwe on 23 April that called for negotiations mediated by SADC that would lead to the establishment of a transitional government of national unity, including both ZANU-PF and the MDC. Mazombwe argued that the political and economic situation made holding a second round unrealistic, and that the best solution would be the formation of a national unity government that would organise an entirely new election, with Mugabe remaining President during the transition. Chinamasa said, however, that Mazombe's article did not represent the position of ZANU-PF or the government, and he reiterated that ZANU-PF was opposed to a national unity government.

Also on 23 April, Zuma said that there were other countries urging South Africa to use force in Zimbabwe, but that South Africa believed in resolving the situation through "quiet diplomacy" and negotiations. He also said that a national unity government was something worth considering and that it was not premature to discuss it as an option. In London, Zuma and Brown issued a joint statement in which they described the situation in Zimbabwe as a crisis and called "for an end to any violence and intimidation and stress the importance of respect for the sovereign people of Zimbabwe and the choice they have made at the ballot box." Brown, along with Amnesty International, additionally said that an arms embargo should be imposed on Zimbabwe, but Zuma said that he did not think that was necessary. Meanwhile, Joaquim Chissano, the former President of Mozambique, said that he and the Africa Forum, of which he is chairman, would be willing to get involved to help resolve the situation if regional leaders requested it.

Various attacks on farmers have been reported; in one instance, 10 farm workers were reportedly ambushed and beaten by ZANU-PF supporters, and in another instance a farmworker was reportedly stabbed to death. One farmer said that his family was held hostage on 23 April by war veterans seeking to force them off their property. Zimbabwean officials, however, alleged that activists of the MDC, disguised as ZANU-PF members, had perpetrated violence against the population, mimicking the tactics of the Selous Scouts during the liberation struggle. They alleged that there was a "predominance" of Selous Scouts in the MDC. The Sunday Mail published an article which claims that former Selous Scouts are training MDC youth activists in violent tactics, at locations near Tswane (Pretoria) and Pietermaritzburg in South Africa.

On 24 April, Jendayi Frazer, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, said at the beginning of a tour of Zimbabwe's neighbouring countries that Morgan Tsvangirai was the "clear victor" of the election. However, she also said that a "negotiated solution" might be necessary. Chinamasa described Frazer's utterances as "patently false, inflammatory, irresponsible and uncalled for". In Zambia on 27 April, Frazer said that if a government of national unity was formed, it should be led by Tsvangirai.