Motion for a resolution - B6-0166/2007Motion for a resolution
B6-0166/2007

MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION

20.4.2007

to wind up the debate on statements by the Council and Commission
pursuant to Rule 103(2) of the Rules of Procedure
by Margrietus van den Berg and Glenys Kinnock
on behalf of the PSE Group
on the situation in Zimbabwe

Procedure : 2007/2545(RSP)
Document stages in plenary
Document selected :  
B6-0166/2007

B6‑0166/2007

European Parliament resolution on the situation in Zimbabwe

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to its resolutions of 15 December 2003, 16 December 2004, 7 July 2005 and 6 September 2006,

–  having regard to the Emergency SADC Summit of 28-29 March 2007, held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania,

–  having regard to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly Bureau's Declaration of 21 March 2007 the on the ill-treatment of the Zimbabwean opposition MP Nelson Chamisa,

–  having regard to Council Common Position 2007/120/CFSP of 19 February 2007 renewing restrictive measures against Zimbabwe until 20 February 2008,

–   having regard to Commission Regulation (EC) No 236/2007 of 2 March 2007 extending the list of those persons in Zimbabwe targeted by the restrictive measures,

–   having regard to the Declaration on Zimbabwe of the African Civil Society Forum 2007 of 24 March 2007,

–   having regard to the International Crisis Group's report of 5 March 2007 entitled 'Zimbabwe: An End to the Stalemate',

–   having regard to Rule 103(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.  whereas at the end of March Mr Mugabe was officially endorsed as Zanu-PF candidate for President in 2008,

B.  whereas members of the opposition parties, civil society groups and individuals in Zimbabwe are assaulted and arbitrarily arrested, and are victims of police and government security service brutality in a climate of increasing and systematic political violence aimed at destroying the structures of the opposition and civil society before the 2008 elections,

C.  whereas, since the violent break-up of the opposition gathering of 11 March 2007 in which two people were killed, more than 300 members of civil society groups and opposition parties have been arrested,

D.  whereas the Bureau of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly 'condemned the brutal attack on its colleague Nelson Chamisa in the strongest possible terms',

E.  whereas the country's political and economic situation has now been deteriorating for eight years and Zimbabweans continue to face serious food shortages, with the World Food Programme providing emergency food aid to 1.5 million Zimbabweans in the first three months of 2007 but calculating that over 4.5 million suffer from malnutrition,

F.  whereas life expectancy in Zimbabwe is now among the lowest in the world at 37 for men and 34 for women, 20% of adults are HIV-positive, with over 3 200 people a week dying from the disease, creating the world's highest orphan rate,

G.  whereas 80% of the population is living below the poverty line, the country has an unemployment rate of 80% in the formal sector and the few employed Zimbabweans do not earn enough to meet even their basic needs, suffering from massive deskilling, corruption, prohibitive school fees, and the collapse of the health system and vital services,

H.  whereas a third of Zimbabwe's people live within the borders of neighbouring countries and between three and five million Zimbabweans have fled to South Africa, many of them living in an irregular situation,

I.  whereas all forms of gathering of over three people are now subject to prior police consent under the Public Order and Security Act as a consequence of the amendments made by Mugabe to the Constitution prior to February, media laws are repressive and the Electoral Act is undemocratic,

J.  whereas many Zimbabweans do not receive information on the state-sponsored terror Mugabe has unleashed on the opposition and civil society activists because of the absence of any independent daily press and media, but the stories of the victims of violence are spreading increasingly widely, as is a general feeling of fear,

K.  whereas, according to the IMF, every African country will enjoy positive economic growth in 2007, with the exception of Zimbabwe, whose economy has contracted by 40% in the last decade and will contract by a further 5.7% this year; whereas Zimbabwe moved into technically defined 'hyperinflation' when its annualised inflation rate surged to 2 200% in March and whereas, according to the IMF, this rate could top 5 000% by the end of the year,

L.  whereas according to the Zimbabwean Chamber of Mines the gold mining sector, which is the country's biggest exporter and accounts for 52% of its mineral output, is facing collapse; whereas the Zimbabwe tobacco industry that accounts for approximately 50% of the country's foreign exchange is facing a similar position with the start of the 2007 tobacco selling season being postponed; and whereas agricultural productivity has fallen by 80% since 1998,

M.  whereas alarm is growing within the region at the repercussions of Zimbabwe's economic disaster on neighbouring countries,

N.  whereas the development of Africa is a priority for Western democracies, aid alone can achieve little and African governments are expected to commit to democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights,

O.  whereas the African Union (AU), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and in particular South Africa can make a vital contribution to resolving the crisis, whereas the SADC meeting on 29 March is an important step in this direction, and whereas they have consistently avoided taking a strong stand against the reprehensible Mugabe regime and strongly condemning Mugabe's recent political crackdown on opposition protest and the brutal violence against members of the opposition, including Morgan Tsvangirai, Nelson Chamisa, Grace Kwinjeh, Lovemore Madhuku, William Bango, Sekai Holland, Tendai Biti, Arthur Mutambara and many others, civil society groups and individuals,

1.  Strongly condemns the Mugabe dictatorship for its relentless oppression of the Zimbabwean people, civil society groups and the Zimbabwean opposition;

2.  Deplores the fact that, despite regional and international criticism and a 27-year rule, Mr Mugabe, who is 83 years old, was again endorsed as Zanu-PF's candidate for President in 2008 by its central committee and that a campaign of intimidation is already taking place in order to destroy the structures of the opposition and civil society and to ensure the result of the parliamentary and presidential elections;

3.  Calls again on Robert Mugabe to abide by his own promise to stand down, sooner rather than later, which would be the largest possible single step towards reviving Zimbabwean society, politics and the economy;

4.  Strongly condemns the violent break-up of the Save Zimbabwe Campaign prayer rally organised on 11 March 2007 by opponents of Mugabe; condemns, in particular, the murders and expresses profound sorrow at the deaths of Gift Tandare, an opposition activist, who was shot, his body snatched and secretly buried without his family's knowledge, and Itai Manyeruke, who died a day later after being severely beaten up by the police;

5.  Strongly condemns the attacks on opposition leaders and the subsequent arrest of Morgan Tsvangirai, Chairman of the MDC ('Movement for Democratic Change), Nelson Chamisa, Grace Kwinjeh, Lovemore Madhuku, William Bango, Sekai Holland, Tendai Biti, Arthur Mutambara and many others, their serious mistreatment by the police forces and the prohibition on seeking medical treatment out of Zimbabwe; deeply deplores the fact that several other participants in the gathering were savagely assaulted by the Zimbabwe Republic Police; expresses deep consternation at the fact that on the same occasion Zimbabwe's Information Minister, Mr Ndlovu, rejected the reports of police brutality and torture, instead accusing the opposition of attacking the police;

6.  Protests at the re-arrest of MDC members, including Morgan Tsvangirai and others on 28 March, the renewed attacks against MDC members, the on-and-off court trials they face on unsustainable charges as well as the ongoing arrests and abductions of suspected opposition members;

7.  Finds unacceptable the attack on Nelson Chamisa, perpetrated on his way to the Harare airport, where he was to take a flight to attend the meetings of the ACP-EU JPA;

8.  Strongly condemns the indiscriminate police and army violence against civilians, as happened on the eve of the Easter holiday, with heavily armed riot police assaulting people waiting for transport to their holiday destinations, which is clearly designed to sow terror;

9.   Calls on the Government of Zimbabwe to restore the rule of law and to immediately halt violent attacks on opposition and civil society groups and individuals, to end ‘disappearances’ and arbitrary detentions, to end torture and the abuse of detainees, to respect the courts and members of the legal profession, and to respect and uphold the rights to freedom of expression and assembly;

10.  Calls on the Government of Zimbabwe to begin an immediate process to end the country’s crisis by agreeing to a credible road map for a democratic constitution, the immediate restoration of the rule of law, a framework for free and fair elections under international supervision, and transitional guarantees of non-partisan control of key state institutions such as the army and the police;

11.  Calls on the Government of Zimbabwe to live up to its commitments, as a signatory to the SADC Treaty and protocols, the Constitutive Act of the African Union and the African Charter of Human and People's Rights, to democratic principles, human rights and the rule of law;

12.  Acknowledges the significance of the first Southern Africa Development Community heads of state meeting in Tanzania on 29 March to specifically discuss Zimbabwe’s crisis and the appointment of President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa as SADC mediator on the crisis in Zimbabwe; supports the frank assessments of the situation in Zimbabwe by Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, Ghanaian President John Kuffour and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, whilst deploring the SADC call to end all forms of sanctions against Zimbabwe; recalls that there are no economic sanctions on the country and that restrictive measures are targeted at the elite only;

13.  Calls on President Mbeki to condition his mediation efforts on an end to the current cycle of violence and intimidation, without which his mandate to facilitate dialogue between the opposition and the Government in Zimbabwe cannot be adequately fulfilled;

14.  Calls on the SADC to dispatch a mission to Zimbabwe that would report back to President Mbeki;

15.  Calls on President Mbeki, with the backing of the SADC and once conditions for mediation are met, to seek a wide national dialogue beyond Zanu PF and the MDC, including church leaders, business, trade unions and other civil society players;

16.  Calls on regional leaders to consider preparations involving exit strategies for Mugabe, transitional government, constitutional change and the end of repressive laws;

17.  Recognises the efforts of the opposition, civic groups and the Church to address Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis; welcomes the declarations of Bulawayo's Catholic Archbishop Ncube defying Mugabe and underlining that there is a need for real change in Zimbabwe;

18.  Supports the student movement in Zimbabwe, whose leaders and activists are continually arrested, beaten and harassed, and the ongoing campaign of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions Initiative (ZCTU), and applauds their bravery for having staged a two-day 'national stay away', denouncing the incapacity of Mugabe to stop the economic collapse of the country, despite the fact that there were reports of police brutality and that ZCTU's leaders were severely assaulted by police after their last demonstration in 2006; regrets that no constructive engagement is possible with a violent government;

19.  Deplores the renewed declaration of intent by the Zimbabwe Government to harass and close down NGOs it deems to be supporting opposition and political change and sees this threat as a serious indication of bad faith from the government in relation to finding a way forward for the country;

20.  Calls on the Council to ensure that all Member States rigorously apply existing restrictive measures, including the arms embargo and the travel ban; calls, therefore, on the Council not to invite anyone on the banned persons list to the planned EU-Africa Summit in Lisbon;

21.  Calls on the Council to expand the scope of the targeted restrictive measures and to enlarge the list of concerned individuals so that it encompasses many more Zimbabwean government ministers, deputies and governors, Zanu-PF members, supporters and workers in addition to their family members, and businessmen and other prominent individuals associated with Zanu-PF; stresses that the restrictive measures in place and being called for are on Mugabe and his regime and not on Zimbabweans;

22.  Urges the international community to consider the human rights and political situation in Zimbabwe without delay and calls on countries that keep supporting the Mugabe regime especially with arms, military supply and the means of repression, including of its own government, to join the efforts of the international community;

23.  Observes that the international community committed USD 368 million to Zimbabwe in 2005 and USD 374 million in 2006, but deeply regrets that the Mugabe regime has manipulated such support, particularly food aid, using it as a political weapon with which to punish those who dare voice opposition to the regime;

24.  Insists that all aid destined for Zimbabwe must be delivered through genuine non-governmental organisations and must reach the people for whom it is intended without being intercepted in any way by agents of the Mugabe regime;

25.  Repeats its demand that the Mugabe regime derive absolutely no financial benefit or propaganda value from either the run-up to the 2010 World Cup or the tournament itself; in this regard, calls on South Africa, the host nation, and on FIFA, to exclude Zimbabwe from participating in pre-World Cup matches, holding international friendly games, or hosting national teams involved in the event;

26.  Welcomes the initiative of the ACP-EU JPA of sending a joint delegation to Zimbabwe to ascertain the situation on the ground, calls on the JPA to carry out this investigation as soon as possible and calls on the Government of Zimbabwe to grant access to Zimbabwe to all members of such a delegation; stresses that the delegation should be gain access to all areas of civil society and not be restricted to meeting with government-organised groups; requests the Commission to visit Zimbabwe and urges the authorities in Zimbabwe to cooperate on the idea of a visit;

27.  Calls for an impartial assessment of empirical evidence that Mugabe has set up a paramilitary unit to abduct, torture and murder opposition activists and unarmed civilians in the context of wide-ranging violence by the State, that about 30 people a day are admitted to hospitals around the country following brutal assaults and that a new round of home and business demolitions similar to 'Operation Murambatsvina' (Drive Out Rubbish) is being planned;

28.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments of the Member States, the Government and Parliament of Zimbabwe, the Government and Parliament of South Africa, the Secretary-General of the Southern African Development Community, the Chairmen of the Commission and Executive Council of the African Union, the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the governments of the G8 countries and the President of FIFA.