'Quiet diplomacy' not working
2003-06-12 22:47
Pretoria - The Law Society of the Northern Provinces expressed concern on Thursday at the South African government's approach of "quiet diplomacy" to the problems of Zimbabwe.
"The extent of the human rights abuses in that country makes it impossible to remain quiet," the society said in a statement.
It urged the government to voice its objections to such abuses.
Among other things, the society was concerned about the detention of human rights lawyers and what it called the harassment of legal practitioners and ordinary Zimbabweans.
"Our concern is that legal practitioners are intimidated not to protect or enforce their clients' rights."
Furthermore, while the Zimbabwean government and opposition parties were said to be negotiating, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was being "constantly detained and charged".
The ongoing violation of citizens' rights did not engender much confidence in "quiet diplomacy", the statement read.
"Our law society needs assurance on the above concerns and believe our government is legitimately expected to advise us on how it intends to deal with the Zimbabwe issue ..."
- SAPA