Don't interfere in Zim - AU

2005-06-24 17:52

Addis Ababa - A senior African Union (AU) official said on Friday an ongoing crackdown on squatters and illegal buildings in Zimbabwe that has sparked international outrage is an internal matter not suitable for the pan-African body to address.

Chief AU spokesperson Desmond Orjiako said the operation, which has left thousands of people homeless and at least two children dead, was disturbing but not within the purview of the 53-member organisation.

"It is painful that the poor people in Zimbabwe are being displaced," he told reporters at AU headquarters here, stressing, however, that national governments had a right to conduct business without outside interference.

"If it is in the interests of the Zimbabwean government to prevent crime or improve sanitation or ensure the health of the people or ensure Harare is not turning into another slum, I do not see how the AU should take over the internal legislation of the government," Orjiako said.

"I do not think it is proper for the AU commission to start running the internal affairs of AU member states before we become the United States (US) of Africa which we are aiming at achieving," he said.

Evidence needed of human rights violations

Orjiako said any evidence of human rights violations in the crackdown should be presented to the AU's African Commission of People and Human Rights and not the central body, which does not have jurisdiction over such matters.

Two other senior AU officials, Said Djinnit, the commissioner of the AU's Peace and Security Council, and Adam Thiam, a spokesperson for AU chief Alpha Oumar Konare, declined to comment at all on the situation in Zimbabwe.

Orjiako's remarks come a day after foreign ministers from the Group of Eight (G8) leading industrial powers denounced Zimbabwe for the crackdown with some calling for other African nations to take the lead in pressing Harare to stop.

International pressure on AU

British foreign secretary Jack Straw and US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice both decried the operation and urged AU members to push President Robert Mugabe's government to respect the rule of law and human rights.

In addition, several international human rights groups and church organisations have been calling on the AU to take a strong position on the crackdown.

For more than a month, bands of armed police have used excavators, bulldozers and sledgehammers to demolish backyard shacks and shop stalls across Zimbabwe.

Mugabe has said the campaign — known as "Operation Murambatsvina", which means "Get rid of trash" — is aimed at bettering the lot of the common man, improving infrastructure in cities and fighting crime in urban areas.

- AFP