DATE=6/14/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ZIMBABWE SITUATION (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-263477
BYLINE=CHALLISS MCDONOUGH
DATELINE=JOHANNESBURG
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: International monitors are taking up positions
throughout Zimbabwe in preparation for parliamentary
elections next week. V-O-A Southern Africa
Correspondent Challiss McDonough reports Zimbabwe's
president, Robert Mugabe, has promised the election
monitors full access to the country, including the
hundreds of white-owned farms seized by his
supporters.
TEXT: Hundreds of international election monitors are
fanning out around Zimbabwe as the country prepares
for the voting. The 44-member Commonwealth observer
mission says its teams have started arriving at their
posts, and the European Union says it has deployed
more than 100 monitors in Zimbabwe's 10 provinces.
Another 60 E-U observers are expected to arrive in the
country next week.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe says election
observers will be free to move into any corner of the
country they choose. The chief of the Commonwealth
mission, former Nigerian leader Abdulsalami Abubakar,
says Mr. Mugabe promised they will be able to visit
farms, mines, and rural areas.
International monitors say access to those areas will
be key to their ability to evaluate the electoral
process.
Zimbabwe has been plagued by unrest in the weeks prior
to the vote, which is scheduled for July 24th and
25th. More than two dozen people have died in the
violence, mostly supporters of the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change, M-D-C. There have been
widespread reports of voter intimidation, especially
in rural areas.
M-D-C leader Morgan Tsvangirai says he has been forced
to cancel two campaign rallies since Tuesday. He says
thousands of supporters of the ruling ZANU-P-F party -
- many of them armed with clubs and knives --
surrounded the rally locations, blocking him and his
supporters from attending.
/// OPT /// Zimbabwe is also in the midst of a land
crisis linked to the upcoming elections. Supporters
of President Mugabe, led by veterans of Zimbabwe's war
for independence, have seized hundreds of white-owned
farms, demanding that they be turned over to landless
blacks. /// END OPT ///
War veterans leader Chenjerai Hunzvi has assured
election observers they are welcome to visit the
commercial farms occupied by his followers. But he
says the monitors may not speak to farm workers or
get involved in the land issue.
Zimbabwe's information minister told V-O-A he agrees
with the veterans' stance. He says the monitors' job
is to observe, not to talk.
Election monitors say they are pleased they will be
able to get to the farms. But they also say it will
be important to actually speak with the farm workers.
The acting head of the European Union mission, Italy's
Tana Dezulueta, told V-O-A the E-U observers will talk
to anyone they want to. She says it is possible some
people will be afraid to speak to them, but the
observers will take note if they have any reason to
believe the right to choose freely between the
candidates is being impeded.
Ms. Dezulueta says fear of expressing one's views can
have a profound impact on the electoral process.
/// REST OPT ///
The instability in Zimbabwe has devastated the
country's economy. The government, desperate for hard
currency, has started charging each foreign journalist
and observer 100 U-S dollars to monitor the polling.
Ms. Dezulueta expressed her surprise at the decision,
saying it is the first time she has heard of such a
policy. But she and other international officials say
the election monitors will abide by Zimbabwean law.
Meanwhile, South African President Thabo Mbeki says he
wants free and fair elections in Zimbabwe. In an
interview with the Star newspaper (published
Wednesday), he says he is against what he calls
"stolen" elections. He says "there will be some
response" if the vote is rigged, but he did not
elaborate.
Mr. Mbeki has been criticized at home for his Zimbabwe
policy and for maintaining ties with ZANU-P-F. He has
been pursing foreign funding for land reform in
Zimbabwe, seeking money to compensate white farmers
for their land. (Signed)
NEB/CEM/JWH/JP
14-Jun-2000 12:49 PM EDT (14-Jun-2000 1649 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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