Investigative Document On Political Rape Ignored
The Best Political Cartoon on the Shoe
ZANU PF Political Mileage On Unidentified Corpses
War in Mumbai, shame on the Indian political system
Inhuman torture on Baloch political activists in Pakistani jails
Do Mugabe's Powers Include Unilateral Ban On Political Rallies?
In the thirty years that Mugabe has been in power, there have been many investigative documents written about the activities of his ZANU PF members and those of his various supposed party extensions (the army, police and prison services) – and the vast majority of these have been ignored by the Mugabe regime and the watching free world.
Sadly, I don’t see this report being treated any differently.
Mugabe doesn't listen to the voters that he claims put him in office. He doesn't listen to fellow African leaders, nor does he pay any heed to SADC or the AU - and holds nothing but disdain for the UN.
So, even if he is afraid of facing charges in the International Criminal Courts for crimes against humanity, he won't show it, and he will certainly not give the courts the proper respect that is due.
"The International Criminal Court must probe alleged crimes against humanity after Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's youth militia launched a campaign of rape during 2008 elections, a campaign group said Wednesday.
Witness statements by rape victims, vetted by a team of international lawyers, suggest the ruling ZANU PF unleashed "sexual terror" against women who supported the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), it said.
The charges were made by AIDS-Free World, an advocacy group co-founded by the UN's former special envoy for AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis, after an 18-month investigation.
A legal dossier will be handed to the ICC in The Hague next month, in the hope that the court's prosecutor can launch proceedings for crimes against humanity, Lewis said.
"What we are calling for collectively is serious intervention at every level," Lewis said at a press conference at the world AIDS forum in Vienna.
He urged the UN Security Council, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union to end their "criminally delinquent" silence."
Much of Mugabe's brazen stance is because very few world leaders speak out about the violence, intimidation and political intransigence in Zimbabwe. Mugabe is too comfortable at the top of the political tree and he intends to stay there - whether out of fear or not, I am not sure.
Morally, the free world is complicit in Mugabe's crimes, insofar as no one is prepared to take Mugabe on. Just why there is a reluctance to address the situation, I do not know.
Mugabe is responsible for thousands of deaths, rampant poverty, runaway inflation resulting in the collapse of the country's economy, the breakdown of law and order, justice, education and health services... need I go on?
"There's not the slightest question that Mugabe has his youth corps and his war veterans, and they are ready to do it again and the world is silent. How is it possible that he's allowed to get away with it?"
The probe, Electing to Rape: Sexual Terror in Mugabe's Zimbabwe, was released in Johannesburg last December.
It detected a surge in rape ahead of the first round of Zimbabwe's blood-stained presidential elections that reached a crescendo before the second round.
So far, 70 personal accounts, checked by lawyers who made six trips to southern Africa and supported by certified affidavits, have been collected, AIDS-Free World said.
In 300 hours of testimony, victims identified 241 men who raped them, and estimated the total acts of rape to be 380.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg, as many other rape victims are too fearful - or too sceptical of getting any redress against their attackers - to come forward, said the report.
"Every victim supported the MDC, and in every attack the perpetrators were clearly identifiable as ZANU PF youth militia or war veterans," the term for former fighters in the war against white minority rule, AIDS-Free World said.
Activists were raped in front of their families or abducted by ZANU PF youths who marched them to militia bases or camps in the countryside, where they were repeatedly assaulted, sometimes over days, the document said.
"Many women were forced to watch their husbands, children and parents killed or tortured before they were raped," it said.
"Nine of the women believe they were infected by HIV/AIDS as a result of the rapes, and an additional 17 women also tested positive in the months following the rapes, raising the possibility that their rapists infected them. Ten women reported that they became pregnant by their rapists."
During their ordeal, the ZANU PF men repeatedly accused the women of being "sell-outs," of "giving the country back to the whites" or being the "whores" or "puppets" of MDC candidate Morgan Tsangvirai.
Police were indifferent to the few women who had the courage to file a complaint, and not a single rapist has been prosecuted, it said.
The MDC said more than 300 people were killed in pre-election violence.
Mugabe claimed victory in the disputed elections, which eventually led to a unity government."
The African leaders then classed the 2008 election as 'free and fair'...
Is it not a crime for the free world to watch the events in Zimbabwe unfold and not lift a finger to help? Are they afraid that Mugabe might call them 'racist' or bent on 'regime change'?
Do Mugabe's words carry that much clout?
Robb WJ Ellis
The Bearded Man
