ABC Online
Presenter: Liam Bartlett
Zimbabwe’s main opposition party has called on Australia to use its influence with the United States, Britain and Asia to indict dictator Robert Mugabe for crimes against humanity.
David Coltart is the spokesperson for justice from the Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe is currently touring the Eastern States of Australia.
He says Mugabe has displaced more than 300,000 people since the 19th May in what is called Operation Clean-Up. This contravenes Article 7 of the Treaty of Rome. The scale of this crime is such that Mr Coltart believes it merits an international intervention in the form of an indictment before the international criminal court.
Not surprisingly, he says, Zimbabwe has not ratified the Treaty of Rome so “any indictment would have to come through a resolution of the Security Council.” Australia doesn’t have a seat on the council but Mr Coltart says he recognises that Australia does exercise great influence and that we occupy a unique position in that we are not a colonial or imperialistic power.
It is true that there have been a number of grave violations of human rights since Zimbabwe’s independence, Mr Coltart reflects, including the massacre of 20,000 people in the South West during the period 1983-7, but those violations are so old now that he believes it would be hard to rally international support around those issues.
He says this recent displacement of people and massive destruction of homes and businesses are clearly targetted at supporters of the opposition in the March 2005 elections.
So does Mr Coltart fear repercussions when he returns to the Zimbabwe Parliament? He says he has already said all of this in the Parliament and any profile he creates here will in some way help protect him and his family when he returns.
More recently, Mugabe has gone to South Africa for financial help. Mr Coltart says it is clear that South African President Mbeke’s policy of quiet diplomacy has not worked in the past three years and it is time for him to change tack.
He says this new deal is very worrying and his party will be watching to see if South Africa will make the one billion rand line of credit available to Mugabe. He says it’s likely that if President Mbeke does make it available he will attach conditions but Mr Coltart is concerned they will not be able to ensure that those conditions are adhered to.
Mr Coltart says that Mugabe is driven by fear and because he is now so distant from his people he can act in such a callous way.