110 HCON 100 : Condemning the recent violent actions of
U.S. House of Representatives
2007-04-18
text/xml
EN
Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
Whereas in 2005 the Government of Zimbabwe launched
Operation Murambatsvina (Operation Throw Out the Trash
) against
citizens in major cities and suburbs throughout Zimbabwe, depriving over
700,000 people of their homes, businesses, and livelihoods;
Whereas on March 11, 2007, opposition party activists and
members of civil society attempted to hold a peaceful prayer meeting to protest
the economic and political crisis engulfing Zimbabwe, where inflation is
running over 3,000 percent and formal sector unemployment stands at 80 percent
and in response to President Robert Mugabe’s announcement that he intends to
seek reelection in 2008;
Whereas opposition activist Gift Tandare died on March 11,
2007, as a result of being shot by police while attempting to attend the prayer
meeting and Itai Manyeruke died on March 12, 2007, as a result of police
beatings and was found in a morgue by his family on March 20, 2007;
Whereas under the direction of President Robert Mugabe and
the Zimbabwe African National Union–Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF) government,
police officers, security forces, and youth militia brutally assaulted the
peaceful demonstrators and arrested opposition leaders and hundreds of
civilians;
Whereas Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan
Tsvangarai was brutally assaulted and suffered a fractured skull, lacerations,
and major bruising; MDC member Sekai Holland, a 64-year old grandmother,
suffered ruthless attacks at Highfield Police Station, which resulted in the
breaking of her leg, knee, arm, and three ribs; fellow activist Grace Kwinje,
age 33, also was brutally beaten, while part of one ear was ripped off; and
Nelson Chamisa was badly injured by suspected state agents at Harare airport on
March 18, 2007, when trying to board a plane for a meeting of Africa Caribbean
Pacific (APC) lawmakers in Brussels, Belgium;
Whereas Zimbabwe’s foreign minister warned Western
diplomats that the Government of Zimbabwe would expel them if they gave support
to the opposition, and said Western diplomats had gone too far by offering food
and water to jailed opposition activists;
Whereas victims of physical assault by the Government of
Zimbabwe have been denied emergency medical transfer to hospitals in
neighboring South Africa, where their wounds can be properly treated;
Whereas those incarcerated by the Government of Zimbabwe
were denied access to legal representatives and lawyers appearing at the jails
to meet with detained clients were themselves threatened and
intimidated;
Whereas at the time of Zimbabwe’s independence, President
Robert Mugabe was hailed as a liberator and Zimbabwe showed bright prospects
for democracy, economic development, domestic reconciliation, and
prosperity;
Whereas President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU–PF government
continue to turn away from the promises of liberation and use state power to
deny the people of Zimbabwe the freedom and prosperity they fought for and
deserve;
Whereas the staggering suffering brought about by the
misrule of Zimbabwe has created a large-scale humanitarian crisis in which
3,500 people die each week from a combination of disease, hunger, neglect, and
despair;
Whereas the Chairman of the African Union, President Alpha
Oumar Konare, expressed great concern
about Zimbabwe’s crisis
and called for the need for the scrupulous respect for human rights and
democratic principles in Zimbabwe;
Whereas the Southern African Development Community (SADC)
Council of Non-governmental Organizations stated that We believe that
the crisis has reached a point where Zimbabweans need to be strongly persuaded
and directly assisted to find an urgent solution to the crisis that affects the
entire region.
;
Whereas Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has likened
Zimbabwe to a “sinking Titanic” and has urged southern Africa to take a new
approach to Zimbabwe, stating that quiet diplomacy has failed to help
solve the political chaos and economic meltdown in Zimbabwe
;
Whereas European Union and African, Caribbean, and Pacific
lawmakers strongly condemned the latest attack on an opposition official in
Zimbabwe and urged the government in Harare to cooperate with the political
opposition to restore the rule of law; and
Whereas United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Christopher
Dell, warned that opposition to President Robert Mugabe had reached a tipping
point because the people no longer feared the regime and believed they had
nothing left to lose: Now, therefore, be it
That—
(1)it is the sense of Congress that—
(A)the state-sponsored violence taking place
in Zimbabwe represents a serious violation of fundamental human rights and the
rule of law and should be condemned by all responsible governments, civic
organizations, religious leaders, and international bodies; and
(B)the Government of Zimbabwe has not lived up
to its commitments as a signatory to the Constitutive Act of the African Union
and African Charter of Human and Peoples Rights which enshrine commitment to
human rights and good governance as foundational principles of African states;
and
(2)Congress—
(A)condemns the Government of Zimbabwe’s
violent suppression of political and human rights through its police force,
security forces, and youth militia that deliberately inflict gross physical
harm, intimidation, and abuse on those legitimately protesting the failing
policies of the government;
(B)holds those individual police, security
force members, and militia involved in abuse and torture responsible for the
acts that they have committed;
(C)condemns
government harassment and intimidation of lawyers attempting to carry out their
professional obligations to their clients and repeated failure by police to
comply promptly with court decisions;
(D)condemns the harassment of foreign
officials, journalists, human rights workers, and others, including threatening
their expulsion from the country if they continue to provide food and water to
victims detained in prison and in police custody while in the hospital;
(E)commends United States Ambassador
Christopher Dell and other United States Government officials and foreign
officials for their support to political detainees and victims of torture and
abuse while in police custody or in medical care centers and encourages them to
continue providing such support;
(F)calls on the Government of Zimbabwe to
cease immediately its violent campaign against fundamental human rights, to
respect the courts and members of the legal profession, and to restore the rule
of law while adhering to the principles embodied in an accountable democracy,
including freedom of association and freedom of expression;
(G)calls on the Government of Zimbabwe to
cease illegitimate interference in travel abroad by its citizens, especially
for humanitarian purposes; and
(H)calls on the leaders of the Southern
African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union to consult urgently
with all Zimbabwe stakeholders to intervene with the Government of Zimbabwe
while applying appropriate pressures to resolve the economic and political
crisis.
Passed the House of
Representatives April 17, 2007.
Lorraine C. Miller,
Clerk.