Zimbabwe's Opposition Campaign for Democracy Goes International

Zimbabwe's main opposition party has enlisted the help of an international public-affairs consultancy firm for a campaign aimed at forcing the government of President Robert Mugabe to restore democracy by calling for fresh presidential elections this year.

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), lead by Morgan Tsvangirai, who is currently facing treason charges, has employed public-relations giant Chelgate, headquartered in London and with associated offices in Europe and North America, to manage the "Save Zimbabwe" campaign.

The campaign--which will include letter writing, media publicity work, and lobbying of Zimbabwe's main trading partners in Africa and around the world--aims to send out the message that democracy in Zimbabwe is being eroded following the reelection to office of Mugabe in March.

Chelgate's executive director Terence Fane-Saunders said the company's work would focus on getting businesses to "withdraw support and recognition from the regime." "Others should apply sanctions," he said, "and yet others should improve and enhance the application of the sanctions they have in place."

The campaign comes in advance of a meeting of European lawmakers next week about ways to intensify pressure to bring about rapid improvement in the governance of Zimbabwe. Members of the European Parliament resolved July 3 that they would not "recognize the legitimacy of the Mugabe regime."

The European Union (EU) and United States have already imposed targeted sanctions on the president, members of Mugabe's cabinet and their family members, which include restrictions on international travel. Commonwealth heads of government suspended Zimbabwe for 12 months earlier this year.

But even stronger measures should be taken, according to the MDC, to restore Zimbabwe's democracy which is currently under attack from a clampdown on the press, stifling of the country's political opposition, and attempts to carry out land reform through the seizure of farms run by the white minority population.

"The restrictions on free speech and the treason charges leveled at opponents of the government create real dangers and difficulties for the MDC in mounting this kind of global campaign," said Chelgate's Saunders.

Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party dismissed the campaign as a waste of time. "Why should they launch an international campaign when voters are in Zimbabwe. We can only wish them the best," said a party spokesman Tuesday.

Mugabe, who has been at the helm of Zimbabwe's government since independence from Britain in 1980, beat Tsvangirai, his main rival, in elections March 9-10 which Western observers declared were not free and fair. Some African leaders countered this by recognizing the Mugabe government and the rest followed suit.

EU and Commonwealth observers reported widespread vote rigging, and violent intimidation of opposition supporters and candidates in the run-up to the elections.

A spokesman for the Campaign to Save Zimbabwe said: "The pressure is building. Sooner or later the Mugabe regime will have to bow to the will of the Zimbabwean people."

The country is currently facing a severe food crisis caused by drought in the Southern African region. The crisis has been worsened by an economic slowdown following a donor aid freeze. Many observers say the imposition of tighter sanctions advocated by campaigners could exacerbate the situation.

Zimbabwe -- Mugabe 'paid Israeli spy to frame opposition leader'***A former Israeli intelligence officer has earned more than US$450,000 (£290,000) from President Robert Mugabe, partly as a reward for framing the Zimbabwean leader's main political opponent, officials in the government revealed yesterday. Mr Mugabe's chief political foe, Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), faces hanging or life in jail if convicted of high treason over an alleged plot to kill President Mugabe. He is to appear in court to answer the charges next month. The Zimbabwe government is using grainy video footage of a meeting Ari Ben-Menashe held with Mr Tsvangirai in Montreal as the basis of its evidence against the opposition leader.***

Mugabe dishes out goodies to cronies*** "The United Nations says this is our longest dry spell in 20 years, and yet all our dams are almost 80 percent full. Our dams are so full because the water has not been used to irrigate crops. There are no crops in the ground because government supporters stopped farmers from growing food because they wanted the land for their masters - and now 6 million people face starvation. What a sickening irony." Buckle said that last week, Zimbabwean Agriculture Minister Joseph Made said that any white farmer who did not put a crop of wheat into the ground would have his farm listed for seizure. ***

"I'm not sure where the minister has been these last two years, because he has already listed 95 percent of Zimbabwe's farms for government takeover," Buckle explained. "There are now only 308 farms in the entire country not listed for state seizure. Neither Dr. Made nor any of his officials are prepared to offer any written guarantees to a farmer that he will be able to grow, reap and sell his wheat before the government moves in and takes the farm over. The 6 million starving Zimbabweans have Dr. Made and his government to thank for their plight. We have become like Somalia and Ethiopia and are holding out our begging bowls to the world. A world that would rather feed us than help us to get a democratic government who care for their people." ***

My 2¢'s about the un?

American Policy Center on-line Declaration of Independence from the U.N.

Also, I recall that the un has one or more "contingency sites" located in other nations... let's banish them there--

Also:

Child sex book given out at U.N. summit

massive sexual abuse of children in Africa,

That aside, everyone who wants to see "the rest of the story"-- all the "stuff" the Jackal Pack Media just doesn't want you to know about, about the situation over in Africa-- look here:

AfricaWatch:

AfricaWatch: for AfricaWatch articles.

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