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

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