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Zim keen to talk to AU
26/01/2006 09:26 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Zimbabwe is keen to talk to the African Union's human rights body over its "discriminatory tendencies", that country's Herald newspaper reported on Thursday.
It quoted Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa as saying: "We need an undertaking that what has happened in the past will stop and that they will treat us like any other African country."
He said there was a need for the AU's Commission on Human and People's Rights to be transparent and objective in executing its duties.
"We feel dejected as Government that we can't expect to receive justice from the commission if it continues treating us without due process of the law."
Last month, the commission criticised what it called the continuing deterioration in human rights in Zimbabwe.
It said last year's mass evictions violated individual and collective rights, and called for those responsible to be brought to justice.
The government's Operation Murambatsvina, or Clear Out Trash,
left about 700 000 people without homes, jobs or both, according to United Nations estimates.
Minister Chinamasa said on Wednesday he met commission chairperson Salamata Sawadogo of Burkina Faso at last week's AU summit in Sudan.
"I indicated that the government wants dialogue with the commission to clear the air on a broad range of issues as it pertains to Zimbabwe," he said.
"The commission is now in the habit of refusing audience with Zimbabwe, and this is contrary to the rules and principles of natural justice."
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