By Jennifer M. Haralambides

HARARE, Zimbabwe – Gordon Brown said that significant reforms are still needed by the national unity government in Harare before they can be readmitted to the Commonwealth.

In 2003, President Robert Mugabe resigned Zimbabwe’s membership in the Commonwealth of Nations in protest of their continued suspension over human rights issues.

Gordon Brown, British Prime Minister, has raised the possibility of readmitting Harare while he was on his way to the summit of Commonwealth nations in Trinidad and Tobago that opened on Friday.  This would be the first time in years the Commonwealth leaders were scheduled to debate whether they should allow Zimbabwe back into the fifty three member club.

Brown said that although they are aware of the progress made by the unity government, Britain remains concerned about the rate at which the reform is taking place.  In an article for the Zimbabwe Independent Newspaper, Brown was quoted saying that the power-sharing government had made some recognized achievements such as raising the living standards of local residents, and taming of hyper-inflation.

The next step should be for the Commonwealth to make an offer of readmission that is conditional on the Zimbabwean government’s fulfillment of the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA) on power-sharing.  The agreement was intended to lead to a new constitution by August 2010 and free elections.

“I sincerely hope that by the time of our next meeting in 2011, Zimbabwe will have made enough progress for us to welcome them back into the Commonwealth,” said Brown.

Brown wants to see progress on reforms in security, justice, and the economy.  He would also like to see Zimbabwe embrace a “vibrant free press.”  Moreover, the most important implementation Brown is hoping for is a genuinely free and fair election.

News reports quoted Didymus Mutasa, the Zimbabwe’s Minister of State, saying that Zimbabwe did not want want to rejoin the commonwealth.  Also, some skeptics say that Mr. Mugabe is using the illusion of a power-sharing relationship with Mr. Tsvangirai as a way of re-establishing himself in the international community as statesman.

For more information, please see:

The Sydney Morning Herald – Mugabe’s Fate – 29 November 2009

Telegraph.co.uk – Robert Mugabe: Will Zimbabwe be Let Back Into Commonwealth? – 28 November 2009

Reuters – Brown Hopes Zimbabwe Can Rejoin Commonwealth – 27 November 2009

VOA – Britain’s Gordon Brown Moots Readmission of Zimbabwe to Commonwealth – 27 November 2009

By Jared Kleinman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — The Burkina Faso government says thousands of flood-displaced families have till November 30th to leave temporary camps that were set up throughout the capital Ouagadougou.

In September severe flooding in Ouagadougou claimed more than 14 lives and left over 150,000 people homeless. Over 10 inches of rainfall was reported on the capital city, the heaviest 12-hour period since 1953. In reaction to the floods, the government, along with the UN and aid agencies, set up temporary housing throughout the capital for those left homeless.

“It will be difficult to leave and relocate at this point,” said Jean Baptiste Bambara, one of some 14,000 displaced people the UN estimates are living at the 18 sites. “Many people do not have homes to go to and living with relatives would place too great a burden.”

The government has designated 15,000 plots of land where displaced families are to relocate, and will give cash and materials to help people rent or build homes, according to officials. “Naturally the deadline will not be the same [for those without any options],” said Housing and Urbanism Minister Vincent Dabilgou. But he said people can live in tents at the new designated sites as they await construction of new homes.

The government is to provide 50,000 CFA francs (US$114) to those who were renting and 280,000 CFA francs in money and building materials to people who lost their own houses to the flooding.

Displaced resident Bambara echoed many other displaced people in saying that the amounts are insufficient. “Many flood victims do not work; the government must help us with more money.”

The government says the project as planned will require about 8 billion CFA francs ($18 million). The money is coming from the government as well as private and public donors to a national fund set up to help flood victims.

The World Food Programme will provide food aid to people upon their departure from the camps, Annalisa Conte, WFP head in Burkina Faso, told IRIN. “We will give a ration that will cover two months of their food needs – cereals, beans, vegetable oil, sugar and fortified food blend for the children.”

Burkina Faso is a landlocked West African country considered to be one of the poorest countries in the world and is ranked 174 of 177 according to the Human Development Index. Burkina Faso has almost half of its population under the poverty line. For every 3.4 children, one will die by the age of 10. These alarming figures have been exacerbated due to the effects of September’s floods.

For more information, please see:

IRIN – Coping With Urban Flood-Displaced – 26 November 2009

Lawrentian – Speaker Brings the Reality of Poverty in Burkina Faso to LU – 13 November 2009

PRNewswire- Barcelona FC Inaugurates a New XICS in Burkina Faso to Offer Comprehensive Attention to More Than 100 Children – 16 November 2009

Reliefweb – IDB Delivers First Batch of Emergency Relief to Flood Victims in Burkina Faso – 09 November 2009

By Jared Kleinman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Witnesses testifying against two Congolese warlords at the International Criminal Court have been threatened and the court does not have the resources to fully protect them, a senior investigator testified Wednesday.

The investigator spoke on the second day of the trial of Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo, who are accused of planning and directing a February 2003 attack on the village of Bogoro in Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) northeastern Ituri region. Hundreds of people were killed and many women forced into sexual slavery in that February 24th, 2003 attack.

Prosecutors plan to call 26 witnesses to testify and 21 of them will be given protective measures in court to shield their identity to try to prevent possible retaliation. The investigator testified Wednesday as the first witness to outline how her team built its case against Katanga and Ngudjolo. Her identity also was shielded.

Investigators and prosecutors at the tribunal give witnesses advice on how to protect themselves but the unidentified investigator and first witness said sometimes “these quite simply have been not enough.” She did not elaborate on whether any witnesses had suffered physical harm, but her comments showed the difficulties of building cases in conflict zones.

Katanga, the alleged commander of the group known as the Force de Résistance Patriotique en Ituri (FRPI), faces three counts of crimes against humanity and six counts of war crimes for a deadly assault on the village of Bogoro, in the province of Ituri. Ngudjolo, the alleged former commander of the rebel National Integrationalist Front (FNI), faces three counts of crimes against humanity and six of war crimes, and is alleged to have played a key role in designing and carrying out the Bogoro attack.

Among those crimes, the two men are accused of using children under the age of 15 in active hostilities, including as bodyguards and combatants, during the deadly assault on Bogoro. Ten child soldiers will be among the 345 people authorized to take part in the trial.

Katanga and Ngudjolo both have pleaded not guilty to three counts of crimes against humanity and seven war crimes including murder, rape, pillage, sexual slavery and using child soldiers in the slaughter. Defense attorneys have denied the two men were involved in the attack on Bogoro and instead blamed Ugandan forces that had been occupying Congo’s mineral-rich Ituri region where the village was located.

The prosecution says more than 1,000 fighters of Katanga’s Patriotic Resistance Force (FRPI) and Ngudjolo’s Nationalist and Integrationist Front (FNI) entered Bogoro on February 24th six years ago “with one communicated and agreed goal: to erase the village”.

The ICC is an independent, permanent court that tries persons accused of the most serious crimes of international concern – namely genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. This particular trial is expected to take several months.

For more information, please see:

Associated Press – Congo massacre witnesses were threatened – 25 November 2009

AFP- ICC Trial of Congolese Militiamen to Reveal ‘The Truth’ – 24 November 2009

PressTV – Congo Warlords Stand Trial – 24 November 2009

Reuters- Congo Warlords in the Dock At Hague Court – 23 November 2009

AllAfrica – International Criminal Court Trial of Two Former Leaders Opens Tomorrow – 23 November 2009