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UN Shrugs at Zimbabwe Amnesty Draft as Ban's Envoy is
Barred from Harare
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
August 8 -- The UN's and Ban
Ki-moon's approach to Zimbabwe has grown more soft or distant. On
August 7,
Inner
City Press asked Ban's spokesperson Michele
Montas about the draft agreement between Robert Mugabe and Morgan
Tsvangirai which
reportedly "would grant amnesty for every Zimbabwean who, in the course
of
upholding or opposing the aims of ZANU-PF or Zimbabwe, committed crimes
within
Zimbabwe. Since the United Nations is
involved through Mr. Haile Menkerios, does it have any view on whether
that
blanket amnesty is acceptable?"
Despite the UN's usual mouthing of the mantra of the
end of impunity,
Ms. Montas declined to comment on the amnesty provisions, stating
instead that
"we are not part of the negotiation, which is led, as you know, by
President Thabo Mbeki. At this point,
the negotiations, as far as I know, Mr. Mbeki is supposed to go back
there
but so far, Mr. Menkerios is in Pretoria,
still discussing the different
issues." Video here.
But when,
the very next day, it was reported that Mugabe has blocked the UN's
Haile Menkerios
from visiting Zimbabwe, Ms. Montas was that "we are not involved
directly" and that she was not aware of Menkerios being blocked.
Some found
this strange, given that it has been reported in the South African press that
"Zimbabwe's permanent representative
to the UN, Boniface Chidyausiku, confirmed that Menkerios was blocked
from
visiting Harare. 'The talks have now reached a delicate stage and we
don’t want
any interference. Why does he want to engage in a parallel process?' he
said. Diplomatic
sources said Menkerios -- who was due in Harare today -- was told by
Zimbabwean
authorities... that even if he arrived there, no official would meet
him and
his visit would not be regarded as authorized... UN spokesman Farahan
Haq said
yesterday Menkerios was in Pretoria and 'arrangements are still being
made for
his visit' to Zimbabwe. UN representative in Harare Agostinho Zacarias
is
expected to travel to Pretoria today to meet Menkerios."
It's worth
noting that just after the U.S.-sponsored sanctions resolution
failed due to
Russia's and China's double veto, Ban through Ms. Montas harshly
criticized
Amb. Boniface Chidyausiku for questioning the objectivity and
impartiality of
the UN's Department of Political Affairs, click here for that.
Mugabe and Ban Ki-moon, entry for Haile
Menkerios not shown
Later on
August 7, Inner City Press asked U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad for
the U.S.
position on amnesty for Mugabe. His answer was long, but he did not
address
amnesty until he was walking away from the stakeout, when he deployed
the
"we are against impunity" phrase. Video here,
at end. His pre-walkaway answer, from the U.S.
mission's transcript:
Inner City Press: There are
reports of this draft power sharing agreement between Mugabe and
Tsvangirai
that would provide for blanket amnesty for all crimes committed in the
past.
Given the US's position in the sanctions resolution that didn’t pass,
what does
the US think of a power sharing agreement that provides for blanket
amnesty.
Ambassador Khalilzad: Well first
we have to see that there is an agreement that restores legitimacy to
Zimbabwe.
There is a crisis of legitimacy there because of did not happen and
what
happened there in the second round of elections. Whatever happens has
to
respect the results of March the first round and two has to be
acceptable to
the opposition and we will have to see. And second there is also a
crisis of
the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe. Still there are conditions on
NGO
operations in Zimbabwe. Those need to be removed and removed
immediately. So we
want these negotiations to succeed, we want there to be a path to
establishment
of legitimate order in Zimbabwe.
We thought the way to bring that about was to
put pressure on Mr. Mugabe and those responsible for the crisis by
putting
focused sanctions on them. But some thought that no, that is not the
best way,
and that the best way is to proceed without sanctions. So the burden is
on
those who disagreed with our approach to produce results. And I think
we are
not there yet. We haven't seen anything that can assure us that both
the crisis
of political legitimacy and the crisis of humanitarian assistance to
the people
of Zimbabwe is being effectively addressed, yet. But, you know we will
see. We will see what happens. Thank you
very much.
Then,
in
response to a shouted follow-up about amnesty, he said that the U.S. is
against
impunity. We'll see.
Watch this site.
And
this --
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