Zimbabwe accuses diplomats
2004-10-21 21:28
Harare - Zimbabwe's foreign minister on Thursday accused Western countries of "plotting" to discredit next year's parliamentary elections, producing a document he said was prepared by diplomats criticising preparations for the vote.
"They are devising a scheme to measure the forthcoming general elections in Zimbabwe, in which they want to inject their own ideas and preoccupations," Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge told a news conference.
"How can we have free and fair elections when they are already planning and plotting?" he asked, referring to the March elections to parliament that President Robert Mugabe's ruling party hopes will produce a stronger majority.
Mudenge distributed a three-page document that did not carry a letterhead and which criticised recently adopted electoral guidelines for southern Africa, saying they failed "to go far enough to fully cover the minimum standards required for genuine, democratic elections".
Zimbabwe has pledged to adhere to the guidelines adopted by leaders of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) that call for access to the media, freedom from police harassment and international supervision of the vote, among other measures.
Pre-judge the elections
Without naming countries, Mudenge said the diplomats were "already planning to pre-judge the elections. ... They are trying to write another report on the forthcoming general elections before the elections are held."
"The Western ambassadors are unhappy about these guidelines. They have made a critique with nine points against the SADC guidelines," Mudenge said.
"I want to state categorically, we reject their rejection of the SADC guidelines, the guidelines will remain our guidelines.
"They are ours, we are proud of them, we devised them for ourselves. We do not want anybody to interfere in the evolution or the implementation of these guidelines," Mudenge said.
Zimbabwe accused the Commonwealth of producing a report on the country's 2002 presidential elections well before polling took place.
The report resulted in Zimbabwe being suspended from the Commonwealth on grounds of unfair elections and human rights abuses.