Public Pressure Must Come to Bear on Mugabe's Misrule

WHITE FARMERS are being forced out of Zimbabwe, but it is President Robert Mugabe who should leave. With Zimbabweans unable to make him go, his neighbors, led by South Africa, need to encourage him to cede power.

About 2,900 farmers out of 4,500 remained in their homes this weekend, hoping that Mugabe would offer them a reprieve. In a speech yesterday he renewed his vow to give most of their land to black Zimbabweans, saying: ''We set ourselves an August deadline for the redistribution of land, and that deadline stands.''

Mugabe's famine - state-sponsored destruction of commercial agriculture ***Many Zimbabweans were hoping for a sign from Mr Mugabe that he would slow or halt the state-sponsored destruction of commercial agriculture. But they were disappointed. "We brook no impediment," he said in his speech, "and we will certainly suffer no avoidable delays." He accused his opponents of being "rapacious supremacists", and suggested that they should go back to Britain, the former colonial power. ***

Group Faults Libya's Nomination to Head U.N. Commission on Human Rights*** UNITED NATIONS, Aug 8 (IPS) - A leading human rights organization has appealed to African nations to reverse their decision to nominate Libya as the next chairman of the Geneva-based U.N. Commission on Human Rights. "Countries with dreadful rights records should never be in charge of chairing the Commission on Human Rights," Rory Mungoven, global advocacy director for New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), said Thursday. "Libya's long record of human rights abuses clearly does not merit such a reward," he added.

…… The original decision to nominate Libya was taken by the U.N.'s African regional group, comprising all 54 African members. It was reaffirmed by heads of state attending the recently concluded inaugural summit of the new African Union (AU), the successor to the now-defunct Organisation of African Unity (OAU). Joanna Weschler of HRW told IPS that the African group could change its mind on the nomination. "It is 100 percent in the hands of the African group, and if they so wish, they can reverse the decision."

Mungoven said that Libya's nomination violated African leaders' recent commitments to promote human rights and good governance through the New African Partnership for Development (NEPAD) which has been endorsed by leaders of the Group of Eight (G-8) countries: the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, Italy and Russia. At a meeting of G-8 leaders in Canada last month, NEPAD was assured of about six billion dollars in Western aid annually, starting in 2006. But this was based on the condition that African nations make a strong commitment to multi-party democracy, rule of law, respect for human rights, fair and free elections and free market economies.

NEPAD establishes a code of governance supporting basic freedoms and a system of peer review so African governments can hold one another to account for human rights violations, among other things. NEPAD's steering group comprises presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, Daniel arap Moi of Kenya and Muammar el-Gaddafi of Libya.

HRW said Libya's nomination was a "real setback" for African governments' stated new commitment to human rights. "Libya's appointment to the steering group of NEPAD has already raised eyebrows among supporters of NEPAD," Mungoven said. "But putting Libya forward as Africa's choice to lead the world's human rights forum should really ring alarm bells," he added.****

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