Civil society organisations in five SADC countries delivered an IANSA-led petition to their government leaders calling for a moratorium on arms transfers to Zimbabwe. The petition was handed over to SADC leaders during the Global Week of Action Against Gun Violence. Meanwhile Human Rights Watch issued a report that explicitly links guns to the increase in violence against opposition supporters in Zimbabwe.
‘Bullets for Each of You’ documents how guns supplied to militia are facilitating abductions, beatings and severe intimidation. It says that the Zimbabwean armed forces have supplied firearms to war veterans and Zanu-PF supporters to intimidate voters ahead of the run-off election on 27 June.
The petition calls for SADC governments to support a moratorium on all military and security equipment transfers until the rule of law is established. Over 100,000 people signed the petition worldwide.
The call for the moratorium follows an attempt by China to deliver 77 tonnes of small arms, including one million rounds of ammunition, to Zimbabwe via South Africa in April. Civil society, human rights lawyers and trade unionists prevented further attempted transfers through Mozambique, Namibia and Angola. It is believed that the ship is en-route back to China, but a serious risk of further arms shipments reaching Zimbabwe remains.
"Guns are now playing a central role in the violence conducted against opposition supporters," said Carolyn Norris, at Human Rights Watch. "They are being used to intimidate and strike fear into people - in one case an entire village community was each presented with a single bullet and told that there was enough to kill all of them if they voted for the opposition in the presidential runoff election."
Joseph Dube, IANSA Africa Coordinator performed the first handover in Pretoria, when he presented the petition to the Office of the President on Friday 6 June. This was prefaced by a press conference in Johannesburg, with speeches from Mr Dube, Arnold Tsunga from the International Commission of Jurists and Corlett Letlojane, director of the Human Rights Institute of South Africa (HURISA).
In Angola, 106 associates from the Association of Justice, Peace and Democracy delivered the petition in Luanda on Monday 9 June and maintained an all-night vigil afterwards.
In Zambia, Amnesty International Zambia presented the petition to SADC leader President Mwanawasa on Thursday 5, the same day as their Malawian neighbours presented it to President Bingu Mutharika. The handovers, which were organised by AI Zambia and the Malawian Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation, received coverage in the Zambian Daily Mail and Nyasa Times.
The Mozambique Association for Crime Combat and Social Re-integration of Prisoners (FOMICRES) concluded the week of handovers with a presentation to President Guebuza on Friday 13 June. A letter was sent to SADC ambassadors in the region on the same day.
In Namibia, around 30 people took part in a rally outside the parliament, but were not able to deliver the petition. The Namibian media reported the attempt and it is hoped a handover will follow soon.
Click here to read more events in Africa during the Global Week of Action Against Gun Violence.
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