Call to Charge Mugabe at the Hague

By Elisha Shamba

Following a recent momentous decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC)’s prosecutor to charge Sudanese President Omar al–Bashir for genocide and a range of crimes against humanity, a legal case against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is laid out in a paper from the ENOUGH project and Impunity Watch called Justice for Zimbabwe. The effort comes as power sharing talks between the ruling and opposition parties continue.

The ICC has taken a tough stance of late, threatening to bring charges against a serving head of state, a move that if successful could give the world’s despots like Mugabe a few sleepless nights. It (the ICC) is prepared to hold heads of state responsible for their actions. Article 7 of the Rome Statue relates to crimes against humanity.

Mugabe’s rule of intimidation and terror

Mugabe masterminded and executed large-scale ethnic cleaning of minority opposition leaders, members, tribesmen and women using his notorious blood thirsty North Korean trained 5^th brigade militia during the Gukurahundi era in the early 1980’s. Over 20,000 people were callously massacred then. The Zimbabwean Legal Resource Foundation and the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace Report published in 1997 based on a five year investigation has detailed information about the atrocities.

On 22 December 1987, in a calculated bid to cover up for his heinous killings, Mugabe signed a Unity Accord with the then main opposition leader Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo of Zapu. This effectively dissolved Zapu into Zanu renamed Zanu PF. Nkomo, who fought alongside Mugabe for independence, spent 10 years in prison with him and shared leadership with him after the Unity Accord at one time fled Zimbabwe, fearing for his life after assassination attempts by the megalomaniacal Mugabe’s hit squads.

A leopard does not change its colour, even at its old age. The MDC party says that more than 120 of its supporters have been killed since the March 29 elections this year, 5,000 abducted and 200,000 displaced and forced to flee their homes after being attacked by Zanu PF and security agents. Even as the inter-party talks are taking place, scores of MDC activists are still in jail, militia camps remain operational, abductions and torture of opponents continue. Teachers are being forced to attend pungwes (rallies), radio stations are still being jammed using jamming equipment from China and websites are being hacked.

A new report entitled : Desperately Seeking Sanity : What Prospects for a New Beginning in Zimbabwe has been compiled by Solidarity Peace Trust and details some egregious acts of cruelty against citizen by Mugabe thugs after the March 29 elections.

Millions of Zimbabweans are now threatened with starvation after widespread failure of the latest harvest brought on by disastrous mishandling of land distribution, expropriation of white- owned commercials farms and food shortages in the shops caused by hyper inflation. A third of the population is chronically malnourished.

Imagine the trouble the world would have been spared if the ICC considers Mugabe’s wilful destruction of Zimbabwe once considered Africa’s bread basket and jewel.

Thabo Mbeki’s warning

Meanwhile a recent Sunday Times article suggests that South African president Thabo Mbeki issued a warning to Mugabe that he faces prosecution for the crimes he committed during his 28 years tenure in office unless he signs a deal to give up all effective power.

The newspaper claims that Mugabe is frightened of going on trail for human rights crimes particularly following an arrest warrant issued to Sudanese president Omar Bashir.

Former Liberia president Charles Taylor is also being tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity at ICC, so is former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karavic who has since been found after 10 years on the run.

On 29 June 2008, South Africa opposition Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille called for Mugabe to be tried at the Hague for crimes against humanity. To read the full text of the statement go to http://www.politicsweb.co.za

However Zimbabwe is one of the few countries not to have ratified the Rome statute; it only signed it (the treaty). It is against this backdrop that politically correct observers argue that bringing Mugabe to justice could be protracted. Attempts to investigate Mugabe would need a referral from the UN Security Council which could most likely be thwarted by Russia or China.

The white paper is available at: www.enoughproject.org

or www.impunitywatch.net