Zimbabwe

Expelled UN expert says unity government does not function

Article published on the 2009-10-29 Latest update 2009-10-29 14:23 TU

Manfred Nowak speaking at a news conference in Amman in June 2006
(Photo: Reuters)

Manfred Nowak, a UN expert on torture, returned to South Africa on Thursday after being refused entry to Zimbabwe. He arrived in Johannesburg following the withdrawal of an invitation to visit Zimbabwe two days previously. Nowak had been planning to meet Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

In an interview with the AFP news agency Nowak said his expulsion from Zimbabwe demonstrated that the “unity government does not function” and that it “sheds a very negative light on the functioning of the government”.

“He was confronted by immigration officials who confiscated his passport and refused to allow him to continue his journey,” correspondent Ryan Truscott told RFI. “Mr Nowak said that he has never been treated as rudely as he was by the Zimbabwean officials that he had to deal with.”

However officials in Zimbabwe blamed the withdrawal of the invitation on a “previously unanticipated consultative process” with countries from the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

“The Foreign Affairs Ministry, which is controlled by President Mugabe’s side of the government, had said that the government is too busy hosting foreign ministers from the SADC grouping to actually deal with Mr Nowak’s visit,” said Truscott.

SADC held a delayed but scheduled meeting in Harare on Thursday to review Zimbabwe’s Global Political Agreement, which outlines the country’s power-sharing arrangement.

Meanwhile, Nowak was detained overnight in Harare despite having a written invitation from the Prime Minister to inspect conditions in the country.

He had welcomed the invitation to assess human rights abuses, inspect detention centres and investigate the arrests of political activists opposed to Mugabe.

After arriving back from Harare, Nowak told a press conference that he hoped that SADC could mediate an end to the ongoing political crisis but said he was afraid it might “escalate”.

He blamed Zanu-Pf for the incident, claiming that it demonstrated “where the real power is lying in this unity government”.

“I think this is just the tip of the iceberg and really shows the deep divisions between the main sides of the power-sharing government,” said Truscott, from Harare.