HARARE, Zimbabwe – Elections in Zimbabwe later this month have been decreed “off limits” to Western observers.  Believing Western countries are trying to remove him from government, Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe instituted the ban.   Mugabe has been in power since 1980 when Zimbabwe gained its independence from Britain. Many people believe Mugabe’s “Zanu-PF” party to be poised to win again.  The two challengers, Simba Makoni and Morgan Tsvangirai, believe the government-imposed ban indicates that Zanu-PF has something to hide.

The army, through Defence Forces Commander Constantine Chiwenga, announced it would only back Mugabe in the upcoming election, calling the other two candidates “sell outs.”  “Elections are coming, and the army will not support or salute sell-outs and agents of the West before, during and after the presidential elects,” said Chiwenga.  In addition, army sources claim that soldiers have been instructed to take leave so that they could go to rural areas and stump for the Zanu PF campaign.

Despite the ban on western observers, African countries, as well as Zimbabwe’s allies China, Iran and Venezuela, will be allowed to monitor the elections.

BBC News – Zimbabwe bans Western observers – 7 March 2008

allAfrica.com – I’ll only salute Mugabe, Not Sell-Outs – Chiwenga – 9 March 2008

hoto – CNN(AP)

By Christopher Gehrke
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, South America

N’DJAMENA, Chad – One hundred and three children will be reunited with their families after six French charity workers were convicted of attempting to kidnap to kidnap them.

Chadian authorities arrested the aid workers as they tried to leave Chad on a plane bound for Paris, said the United Nations Children’s Fund.

The charity said that the children were Sudanese orphans from the Darfur region, and were being taken to foster families in France.  Other charities, however, had determined that the majority of the children were Chadian, and had living parents.

The children – 21 girls and 82 boys, aged between one and 10 years – have been in an orphanage in Abeche since late October.  The children indicated that they were from villages near Adre and Tine along the Chadian-Sudanese border.

Chadians expressed their outrage by staging a stone-throwing, anti-French demonstration in the capital, N’Djamena, a few months ago.

French authorities called the charity group’s actions “illegal and irresponsible.”  The six aid workers were sentenced to eight years of hard labor in Chad.  They were sent to France, with the permission of the Chadian government, after French President Nicolas Sarkozy intervened on their behalf.  The six were sentenced to eight years in a French prison.

The children’s return home has been delayed until their guardians could be identified by Chadian officials.  The French charity involved left little paperwork about their children’s identities.  Despite this setback, UNICEF spokesman Jean-Francois Basse said most of the children’s guardians had been found.

“Out of the 103 children we were able to locate those who were in charge of the children for 97 of them,” he told BBC. UNICEF will travel to Chad next week to reunite the children with their families.

For more information, please see:
France24 – Children in Chad ‘kidnap’ scandal to rejoin families:  UNICEF – 7 March 2008

CNN – Kidnapped kids going back to families – 7 March 2008

BBC News – Chad’s ‘orphans’ returning home – 7 March 2008

By Christopher Gehrke
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, South America

N’DJAMENA, Chad – One hundred and three children will be reunited with their families after six French charity workers were convicted of attempting to kidnap to kidnap them.

Chadian authorities arrested the aid workers as they tried to leave Chad on a plane bound for Paris, said the United Nations Children’s Fund.

The charity said that the children were Sudanese orphans from the Darfur region, and were being taken to foster families in France.  Other charities, however, had determined that the majority of the children were Chadian, and had living parents.

The children – 21 girls and 82 boys, aged between one and 10 years – have been in an orphanage in Abeche since late October.  The children indicated that they were from villages near Adre and Tine along the Chadian-Sudanese border.

Chadians expressed their outrage by staging a stone-throwing, anti-French demonstration in the capital, N’Djamena, a few months ago.

French authorities called the charity group’s actions “illegal and irresponsible.”  The six aid workers were sentenced to eight years of hard labor in Chad.  They were sent to France, with the permission of the Chadian government, after French President Nicolas Sarkozy intervened on their behalf.  The six were sentenced to eight years in a French prison.

The children’s return home has been delayed until their guardians could be identified by Chadian officials.  The French charity involved left little paperwork about their children’s identities.  Despite this setback, UNICEF spokesman Jean-Francois Basse said most of the children’s guardians had been found.

“Out of the 103 children we were able to locate those who were in charge of the children for 97 of them,” he told BBC. UNICEF will travel to Chad next week to reunite the children with their families. 

For more information, please see:

France24 – Children in Chad ‘kidnap’ scandal to rejoin families:  UNICEF – 7 March 2008

CNN – Kidnapped kids going back to families – 7 March 2008

BBC News – Chad’s ‘orphans’ returning home – 7 March 2008

KIGALI, Rwanda –  Rwanda can now jail persons convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

Rwanda signed an agreement with the UN on the enforcement of sentences imposed by the ICTR with the United Nations. Rwanda joins six other countries, Mali, Benin, Swaziland, France, Italy and Sweden, which have already signed such an agreement.

The ICTR Statute sets forth requirements for prisons that a nation must satisfy before it can agree to house criminals convicted by the ICTR. Rwanda built a prison in Mpanga which meets these criteria.

In response to the possibility of being transferred to prison in Rwanda, 40 of about 70 detainees who have been convicted by the ICTR voiced their concern about possible mistreatment or abuse. The 40 detainees signed a letter sent to the president of the ICTR stating that they would call on international organizations to hold the U.N. and the ICTR responsible for ensuring that they are not mistreated in a Rwandan prison if they are sent there against their will.

For more information, please see:

allAfrica.com – Rwanda: Country Becomes the 7th to Sign UN Agreement – 7 March 2008

ICTR – Rwanda signs Agreement on Enforcement of ICTR Sentences – 5 March 2008

By Ted Townsend
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor continued into its seventh week with a special request from the Special Court for Sierra Leone. The court asked the UK government to help track do wn millions of dollars believed to have been stolen by former Liberian President, Charles Taylor. Taylor is on trial accused of funding rebels in Sierra Leone. 

Taylor denies the charges, “but the chief prosecutor says if he is convicted for pillage, he wants his alleged stolen millions to be returned.” Chief Prosecutor Stephen Rapp expressed a desire to get the money back to the victims of Taylor’s atrocities, including thousands who survived the decade-long civil war, but were mutilated, raped and had their limbs amputated. Rapp has met with London to meet with the UK government, believing that the amount of resources and money that went through Liberia could add up to close to a billion dollars. Governments around the world have been co-operative when asked for help in the ongoing effort. Should the recovery effort succeed, Prosecutor Rapp has the money earmarked to the victims of the conflict.

The trial itself continued this week in closed session, but re-opened for the testimony of Revolutionary United Front (RUF) commander Mustapha Marvin Mansaray (Mansaray). The witness began his testimony describing how he was captured as a civilian in 1991. He was trained as a junior fighter, but eventually became a mining commander.

Mansaray then described the work of the RUF’s joint security board. If any fighter or commando violated an RUF law, this group would investigate and submit a report with recommendations, including demotion, transferral to the front line, or placement in a room under guard supervision.

Mansaray then described his experience with RUF field commander Sam Bockarie (Bockarie), who held that position from 1996-1999. Mansaray described Bockarie as a man who was “only interested in fighting the war. He had no interest in bringing soldiers to justice for crimes committed against civilians.” Bockarie also had committed crimes against civilians himself. Mansaray described one incident in particular when ten civilians captured by the RUF were tied up and thrown in a well where they died. Another time, five civilians were brought to camp by a hunting party. Three of them were immediately shot. The other two were buried alive.

Mansaray went on to describe other civilian murders by Bockarie and RUF soldiers alike, as well as an estimated two hundred rapes.

Mansaray then described a meeting in 1991 at which Charles Taylor spoke, supporting the RUF fighters, and then immediately left.

Mansaray’s second day of testimony continued with more vivid description of rape, lootings, killings of civilians and pillage by the RUF soldiers. He described the arrest of UN peacekeepers by an RUF member named Dennis Lansana on the orders of the RUF’s overall commander at the time, Issa Sesay. These peacekeepers were kept under house arrest as the RUF prepared charges against them, including that the peacekeepers had joined with the Sierra Leonean government to destroy the RUF. The peacekeepers were then taken to Liberia. Mansaray did not expound beyond that point.

Mansaray concluded his direct examination with descriptions of munitions and his control over diamond mines. He described a system in which civilians were forced to work in the mines and give any diamonds found to the RUF. If a civilian refused to hand over the diamonds, he was beaten or killed.

During cross examination, the defense focused on Mansaray’s role in the RUF’s internal defense unit and whether the unit acted upon complaints of mistreatment by the RUF of civilians. Mansaray testified that once Bockarie took over any complaints were rarely acted on. He concluded agreeing that the RUF commanders “often took the law into their own hands.”

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Taylor ‘millions’ wanted by court – 4 March 2008

allAfrica.com – After tales of killings, forced labor, arrests of UN peacekeepers – 6 March 2008

allAfrica.com – RUF Commander Describes Brutality, Murders, Rapes – 5 March 2008

charlestaylortrial.org – The Trial of Charles Taylor – last accessed 7 March 2008

allAfrica.com – Sierra Leone Court Chases Taylor’s Millions – 5 March 2008