FF+ names its Zim observer

2005-03-04 21:30

Cape Town - The Freedom Front Plus has named Gauteng member of parliament and labour spokesperson Willie Spies to act as an observer on behalf of the South African parliament during the elections in Zimbabwe.

This follows a decision taken by the parliament on Tuesday that it would send a multiparty delegation to Zimbabwe to monitor the March 31 elections.

Spies said that, according to unconfirmed reports, the African National Congress had yet to decide on the composition of its delegation to the parliamentary observer's team that will be led by ANC chief whip Mbulelo Goniwe.

Spies said the delegation would leave on March 14 for Zimbabwe "and return on April 3, after which a report would be handed to parliament".

Reason for catastrophic events

Spies noted, meanwhile, that the former commanding officer of the United Nations-peacekeeping force in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide, Lieutenant-General Romeo Dallaire had warned that urgent interventions were needed to prevent the situation in Zimbabwe from deteriorating any further.

Spies referred to a report quoting Dellaire as saying at a conference hosted by the South African Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, that the lack of international political will to intervene was the main reason for the catastrophic events 11 years ago.

Spies noted that Dellaire had also drawn "some parallels between the unrest in the Darfur region of Sudan, in which the international community did intervene, the Southern African Development Community countries in general and South Africa, in particular, had largely remained quiet".

- I-Net Bridge (News24)