[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 91 (Friday, July 1, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7903-S7904]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        DESTRUCTION IN ZIMBABWE

  Mr. MARTINEZ. Mr. President, I call attention to and condemn the 
current tragic actions by the government of Zimbabwe.
  At present, more than 200,000 people have been made homeless as a 
result of ``Operation Restore Order''--a 5-week-old government campaign 
to destroy informal dwellings and businesses in Zimbabwe's cities. 
Alternatively, the operation is also being called Operation 
Murambatsvina--meaning operation ``Drive Out Rubbish.''
  Whatever the name, this operation is horrific. It is appalling. And 
it must end.
  As a State Department spoke
sman affirmed last week--``it's uncondonable, inexcusable, and we will 
continue to speak out and act diplomatically to achieve justice for 
those who have been so senselessly disadvantaged.'' That is why I speak 
today.
  The targets of this ongoing campaign are Zimbabwe's very poorest 
citizens--individuals who are already suffering from 80 percent 
unemployment, 600-percent inflation and widespread food shortages. An 
the true reasons for this campaign have not been made fully clear.
  Zimbabwe's President, Robert Mugabe, says the crackdown is designed 
to ``restore sanity'' in urban areas--areas which he says have become 
overrun with criminals.
  But Zimbabwe's cities are also the centers of opposition political 
activity.
  Due to the worsening situation in the urban areas, including a lack 
of fuel and a diminishing food supply, the government may be moving 
poor people out of the cities in an effort to increase control over the 
population.
  Unfortunately, because of Mugabe's government controls, there has 
been a severe lack of verifiable information coming out of Zimbabwe. 
But daily dispatches are telling us of people being forced into labor 
on state-run farms, and young people being sent to youth militia camps. 
Most disturbing are the tragic reports that children are being crushed 
and killed in these raids.
  Last Friday, these events led 10 United Nations special rapporteurs 
on human rights to issue a strong statement of concern about the 
``recent mass forced evictions in Zimbabwe and related human rights 
violations.''
  I briefly read a portion of this statement, which was issued through 
the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights:

       Since 18 May 2005 Zimbabwean authorities are reported to 
     have forcibly evicted an estimated 200,000 people from Harare 
     and 29 other locations across Zimbabwe, with some reports 
     stating that up to a million people may face eviction if the 
     operation continues. . . . These evictions have targeted . . 
     . informal traders and families living in informal 
     settlements, including women with HIV/AIDS, widows, children 
     with disabilities. Many evictees, including women, are 
     reported to have been beaten up by police. The evictees have 
     been given no prior notice, no opportunity to appeal and no 
     opportunity to retrieve property and goods from homes and 
     shops before destruction . . . With the exception of a few 
     inadequate transit camps, there is no evidence that the 
     Government has explored any alternatives to the evictions or 
     offered adequate alternative housing and many evictees have 
     been left completely homeless.

  I find this situation to be alarming at the very least. These 
demolitions sound a lot like political retribution and forced human 
displacement. And the deliberate destruction of the homes is a clear 
violation of fundamental human rights.
  In light of this alleged, sustained and deliberate destruction, I 
commend Kofi Annan's recent decision to send Ms. Anna Kajumulo 
Tibaijuka as his Special Envoy to Zimbabwe to further investigate and 
respond to this tragedy.
  Anna currently serves as the Under-Secretary General and Executive 
Director of U.N. HABITAT, and is a good friend.
  This past Sunday, Anna arrived in Harare as the head of a seven-
member delegation to investigate the true impact of Mugabe's so-called 
``cleaning'' operation.
  Sending Anna and the delegation is a very positive step, and I am 
encouraged by the visit. And I urge President Mugabe to continue to 
allow Anna and her team full access to impacted areas. I look forward 
to hearing about and reading the delegation's findings.
  At the same time, I want to commend international leaders, including 
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Australian Prime Minister John 
Howard, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, as well as over 200 
international human rights and civics groups for publicly condemning 
these continued atrocities and human rights abuses.
  As an international community, we share a collective responsibility 
to assist the people of Zimbabwe and bring about a meaningful end to 
this man-made tragedy.
  But I also echo international calls for Zimbabwe's neighbors to step 
forward and put pressure on the Mugabe government. I urge Zimbabwe's 
African neighbors to take effective action and intervene. In 
particular, I urge the African Union to take meaningful action.
  The fact is, the latest demolitions are part of a larger, sustained 
pattern of human rights violations being carried out by President 
Mugabe and his government.
  As the 2004 State Department Human Rights Report relates, and I will 
read a brief paragraph directly:

       President Mugabe and his party used intimidation and 
     violence to maintain political power. A systematic, 
     government sanctioned campaign of violence targeting 
     supporters and perceived supporters of the opposition 
     continued during the year. Security forces committed at least 
     one extrajudicial killing. Ruling party supporters, with 
     material support from the Government, continued their 
     occupation of commercial farms, and in some cases killed, 
     abducted, tortured, intimidated, raped, or threatened farm 
     occupants. Security forces, government-sanctioned youth 
     militias, and ruling party supporters tortured, raped, and 
     otherwise abused persons perceived to be associated with the 
     opposition; some persons died from their injuries.

  I remind my colleagues that this very same government is also a 
current member of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights--which 
is yet another travesty.
  But the immediate issue facing us today is the current government 
campaign to demolish Zimbabwe's urban areas. We cannot ignore this 
continued destruction and abuse. We simply cannot look the other way.

[[Page S7904]]

  As Secretary Rice outlined in her confirmation hearing before the 
Foreign Relations Committee earlier this year, Zimbabwe remains one of 
the outposts of tyranny.
  And as Secretary Rice rightly remarked, ``America stands with 
oppressed people on every continent.''
  At the time, she referenced Natan Sharansky and what he calls the 
``Town Square Test,'' saying that the world should apply that test. To 
quote the Secretary directly, ``if a person cannot walk into the middle 
of the town square and express his or her views without fear of arrest, 
imprisonment, or physical harm, then that person is living in a fear 
society, not a free society. We cannot rest until every person living 
in a ``fear society'' is living in a ``free society.''
  These remarks are even more relevant in light of current events. The 
people living in Zimbabwe's cities are clearly living in a society of 
fear. Their town squares are literally being torn down--the rubble 
crushing the people of that country.
  I look forward to working with the Administration, and supporting 
international efforts to provide meaningful assistance to the people of 
Zimbabwe.

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