[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Con. Res. 25 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. CON. RES. 25

  Condemning the recent violent actions of the Government of Zimbabwe 
   against peaceful opposition party activists and members of civil 
                                society.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 29, 2007

Mr. Obama (for himself, Mr. Biden, Mr. Feingold, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Kerry, 
and Mr. Dodd) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
  Condemning the recent violent actions of the Government of Zimbabwe 
   against peaceful opposition party activists and members of civil 
                                society.

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 1,700 percent and unemployment stands at 80 percent and in 
        response to President Robert Mugabe's announcement that he intends to 
        seek reelection in 2008 if nominated;
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 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 European Union and Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific Group 
        of States 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 urged southern Africa to take a 
        new approach to Zimbabwe instead of the failed ``quiet diplomacy'', 
        which he likened to a ``sinking Titanic,'' and stated 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
    Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), 
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 the 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 Africa 
                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.
                                 <all>