CCD Issues Third Action Request on Zimbabwe

To: International CCD Associates, NGO Colleagues, ADF Leadership and International Steering Committee Members

ALERT: Southern African Development Community Allies with Mugabe in Zimbabwe; CCD Adopts Position of Albright and Tutu

CCD opposes the position taken by the group of South African nations in SADC at their recent meeting in Dar Esalam, which according to a recent CNN report “allies” the SADC group with Mugabe’s government in Zimbabwe and calls for removal of all economic sanctions. We urge the international community to speak out against the government-sponsored violence in Zimbabwe as suggested in the recent op/ed in the Washington Post by Madeline Albright and Desmond Tutu. We should, as the authors say, “raise our voices” in support of the principles in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And we agree that “With crisis comes opportunity. This is the movement for political and civil leaders in Zimbabwe to unify around a common goal: a peaceful and democratic transition.”  CCD supports this position and urges NGOs, international institutions and governments to join us in speaking out and taking action against President Mugabe’s regime.

• CCD: Southern African Development Community Allies with Mugabe Government in Zimbabwe; Albright and Tutu Say Now is Not the Time for “Silent Diplomacy”
• CNN: Summit ends with African leaders siding with Mugabe
• Washington Post: A Cry for Zimbabwe (Madeline Albright and Desmond Tutu)

For more detailed information on the situation in Zimbabwe and extensive news coverage visit CCD’s Zimbabwe “Country Watch.”  

Other Related Material:

• CCD Urges Action Against Governments in Egypt and Zimbabwe
• CCD Board Member and Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Hank Cohen Suggests Further Action Against Mugabe Government

Contact: Josh Silva, Assistant Program Officer, Council for a Community of Democracies, silva@ccd21.org, 30 March 2007