Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-07-09-Speech-3-386"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20080709.36.3-386"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, the situation in Zimbabwe has reached an absolute low in political, economic and humanitarian terms. The people there are hostages to a regime that does not want to surrender power because the clique around the President, the military command and the secret service, wants to continue enriching itself at the expense of the country’s resources. To that end they fund militias and misuse the police and the military, who are terrorising the population across the country.
By SADC standards, even the parliamentary elections of 29 March were neither free nor fair. The country-wide campaign of intimidation that has followed, with dozens killed and thousands injured and persecuted, made it impossible for the winner of the first round, Morgan Tsvangirai, to send his electors out to vote when they feared they would be punished for doing so. The leader of the Pan-African Parliament’s Election Observer Mission, Marwick Khumalo, and the SADC mission assess the events of 27 June as follows:
‘The atmosphere prevailing in the country did not give rise to the conduct of free, fair and credible elections. The elections did not represent the will of the people of Zimbabwe.’
What is important now is to develop a transition scenario that will lead to a situation in which a legitimate government and a legitimate president come into office. The AU and the SADC have a crucial role to play here. Unfortunately, President Mbeki has achieved nothing with his years of quiet diplomacy. Nor has he gained the trust of both sides in the conflict and he himself knows best why.
I would urge the political parties in South Africa to take the initiative themselves. I call on colleagues from South Africa to decide in their parliament to freeze the accounts and assets of the profiteers of the Mugabe regime in South Africa. They should refuse to allow Grace Mugabe and others to go shopping in Cape Town or Sandton while the people are starving. I ask them to show solidarity with the three million Zimbabweans in their country, who will return home when Mugabe’s rule comes to an end and thereby also make room for millions of unemployed South Africans. We succeeded in pressurising European companies to withdraw from Zimbabwe because their activities helped stabilise the regime."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples