[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 55 (Thursday, March 29, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4218-S4219]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 25--CONDEMNING THE RECENT VIOLENT ACTIONS 
    OF THE GOVERNMENT OF ZIMBABWE AGAINST PEACEFUL OPPOSITION PARTY 
                 ACTIVISTS AND MEMBERS OF CIVIL SOCIETY

  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:

                            S. Con. Res. 25

       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;

[[Page S4219]]

       (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.

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