The African Union (AU) on Friday rejected calls by Britain and the US to intervene in Zimbabwe, where the president, Robert Mugabe, is conducting a slum clearance program that has left hundreds of thousands homeless.
Desmond Orjiako, a spokesman for the AU, which represents 53 African states, said: "I do not think it is proper for the AU commission to start running the internal affairs of members' states."
He suggested there were various good reasons for the demolitions, including preventing Harare turning into a slum.
The UK's Foreign Office, which has been leading a campaign against Mugabe, has expressed frustration over the last four years at the failure of South Africa and other AU members to act against -- or even criticize -- Mugabe in spite of human rights abuses and rigged elections.
But Britain's position was weakened yesterday by a Zimbabwean archbishop, who urged it to stop sending failed asylum seekers back to the Mugabe regime.
The Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius A Ncube, said those deported would be persecuted by the Mugabe regime as "traitors."
"People who were asylum seekers in Britain and are returned have been detained by police in Zimbabwe, some being tortured and forced to confess that they were in anti-government activities."
Ncube told the UK's Channel 4 news that Zimbabwe was beginning to resemble Pol Pot's Cambodia. He said Mugabe's policy of driving people out to the countryside "is extremely cruel and it is very much like Pol Pot and this will lead to people starving."
The UK's Home Office has temporarily backed down on its threat to send an opponent of Mugabe back to Zimbabwe today, which critics said could have led to his possible torture or death.
But yesterday it refused to reverse its policy of deporting people to whom Britain had refused asylum, which has triggered hunger strikes by at least 16 Zimbabweans held in detention.
The most high-profile detainee, Crespen Kulingi, who was due to be deported yesterday, has been given a temporary reprieve. Kulingi, 32, is an adviser to the leader of Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change.
He claims he suffered injuries so severe at the hands at Mugabe's henchmen while detained in Zimbabwe that he is now in a wheelchair.
The delay in deporting him came after an intervention by the British Labor MP Kate Hoey.
Hoey said: "I have no doubt that if Crechance he will be killed, but more definitely he would be locked up and probably tortured."
The Home Office has been put under more pressure by remarks by the British foreign secretary, Jack Straw.
Condemning Mugabe's policy of forced removals of people from areas which voted for the opposition, Straw said it was "of serious international concern."
School bullies in Singapore are to face caning under new guidelines, but the education minister on Tuesday said it would be meted out only as a last resort with strict safeguards. Human rights groups regularly criticize Singapore for the use of corporal punishment, which remains part of the school and criminal justice systems, but authorities have defended it as a deterrent to crime and serious misconduct. Caning was discussed in the parliament after legislators asked how it would be used in relation to bullying in schools. The debate followed stricter guidelines on serious student misconduct, including bullying, unveiled by the Singaporean Ministry of
‘GROSS NEGLIGENCE?’ Despite a spleen typically being significantly smaller than a liver, the surgeon said he believed Bryan’s spleen was ‘double the size of what is normal’ A Florida surgeon who is facing criminal charges after allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen has said he is “forever traumatized” by that person’s death. In a deposition from November last year that was recently obtained by NBC, 44-year-old Thomas Shaknovsky described the death of 70-year-old William Bryan as an “incredibly unfortunate event that I regret deeply.” Bryan died after the botched surgery; and last month, a grand jury in Tallahassee indicted Shaknovsky on a charge of manslaughter. “I’m forever traumatized by it and hurt by it,” Shaknovsky added, also saying that wrong-site surgeries can happen “during
A MESSAGE: Japan’s participation in the Balikatan drills is a clear deterrence signal to China not to attack Taiwan while the US is busy in the Middle East, an analyst said The Japan Self-Defense Forces yesterday fired a Type 88 anti-ship missile during a joint maritime exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces, hitting a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship in waters facing the disputed South China Sea, in drills that underscore Tokyo’s rising willingness to project military power on China’s doorstep. The drill took place as Manila and Tokyo began talks on a potential defense equipment transfer, made possible by Japan’s decision to scrap restrictions on military exports. The discussions include the possible early transfer of Abukuma-class destroyers and TC-90 aircraft to the Philippines, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. Philippine Secretary of
A South Korean judge who last week more than doubled former South Korean first lady Kim Keon-hee’s prison sentence was found dead yesterday, police said. Shin Jong-o was found unconscious at about 1am at the Seoul High Court building, an investigator at the Seocho District Police Station in Seoul said. Shin was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, he said. “There is no sign of foul play in the death,” the investigator added. Local media reported that Shin had left a suicide note, but the investigator said there was none. On Tuesday last week, Shin presided over 53-year-old Kim’s appeal trial, finding her guilty
RSS