Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-09-06-Speech-4-142"
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"en.20010906.7.4-142"2
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"Mr President, Parliament today will vote on its fifth resolution on Zimbabwe in the last 18 months. If the Council and the Commission did not feel moved to act before, then it is certainly time to act now, before the Mugabe regime destroys all hope for what is potentially one of the most prosperous countries in Africa.
The breakdown in the rule of law, the terrible human rights abuses inflicted on all sections of the population in Zimbabwe and the catastrophic economic situation have all been well documented and have intensified. The political opposition to Mugabe's regime has been in the frontline of attacks from Zanu-PF militants. The opposition press has been bombed and critical journalists have been routinely attacked. Opposition politicians in the movement for democratic change and their supporters have been the particular targets of harassment, violent intimidation, arbitrary imprisonment and murder. In the last few weeks, many MPs and party officials have narrowly escaped death after violent attacks.
This is not some family squabble between Britain and Zimbabwe. Mugabe's regime is a destabilising factor in central Africa and his human rights record is of international concern. The economic collapse in Zimbabwe is pulling down neighbouring countries. In the last two days, senior black opposition activists visiting this Parliament have insisted that the crisis is nothing to do with land, but about Mugabe's desire to hold on to power. He faces defeat in the presidential election next year, but is trying to head this off with a savage campaign of brutal intimidation against his political opponents. We must recognise that democratic norms, protection under the law and basic human rights have been abandoned in Zimbabwe for all elements of the population.
It takes enormous courage to stand up for democracy, liberty and freedom of speech in such circumstances. Morgan Tsvangirai, as the leader of the opposition MDC since 1999, personifies this courageous stance and the struggle for genuine freedom in Zimbabwe and deserves international recognition for his stance.
I had rather hoped that we would have senior Council representatives here this afternoon. This resolution is aimed at the Council in particular because there are a number of high-level meetings taking place in the next few weeks. Can I have an assurance that today the secretariat will ensure that our resolution is passed to the Presidency, so that it can brought up at the informal meeting of ministers at Genval near Brussels this weekend and formally put on the agenda of the General Affairs Council on 8 October?"@en1
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