Member parties present at the General Assembly of the Africa Liberal Network, held on 4 May, 2007 in Johannesburg,
•    Extend their well wishes to our sister party in the Seychelles, the SNP, in view of the forthcoming elections;
•    Believe that the SNP offers a good programme to protect the human rights of the people of the Seychelles, promote economic growth, safeguard the environment and ensure the well-being of all Seychellois;
•    Call upon the authorities to conduct free and fair elections and respect the will and wishes of the people of the Seychelles
Johannesburg, 4 May 2007

ALN Denounces Recent Violence in Zimbabwe
The Africa Liberal Network (ALN), an organisation of eighteen African liberal parties is deeply concerned about the rapidly deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe.
Following the break up of a public meeting by riot police on 11th of March 2007 in Harare, Zimbabwe, and the arrest of opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai and his supporters, and the subsequent arrest on 17th of March of Arthur Mutambara, we the members of the ALN strongly condemn the excessive use of force used by the police against Zimbabwean citizens exercising their right to freedom of expression.
The events of the last week are a gross violation of the basic democratic rights of citizens to engage in peaceful assembly.
The role of any rights respecting government is to allow peaceful assembly and to provide a space for the exercise of legitimate political rights.
We call on the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU) to strongly condemn the actions of President Mugabe’s police force;
We demand the immediate and unconditional release of all opposition supporters;
We wish the prompt recovery of those who have been brutalized;
We express our solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe who have been fighting for a peaceful, stable, and truly democratic Zimbabwean state that respects the rights of its citizens;
We call on the international community to increase the level of sanctions against the government of Zimbabwe, especially “smart sanctions” that target senior government officials if the rights of citizens are not restored and respected.
Aly Touré
Président of the Africa Liberal Network
19 March 2007

South Africa’s decision to oppose a request for a United Nations Security Council briefing on the economic and political crisis in Zimbabwe is another example of South Africa bending over backwards to defend Robert Mugabe’s increasingly tyrannical rule.
Britain’s ambassador to the UN, Emyr Jones Parry last week requested a “humanitarian briefing” for the UNSC following the attack on Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, as well as the deepening economic and political crisis in the country. South Africa is the current rotating President of the UNSC – Dumisani Khumalo, South Africa’s ambassador to the UN, opposed the request.
In a repeat of South Africa’s indefensible blocking of a UN resolution on the human rights crisis in Burma, Khumalo argued that the turmoil in Zimbabwe does not affect international peace and security and therefore does not belong on the UNSC’s agenda.
Apart from the extraordinary irony that this reasoning was often the excuse used to block UNSC debates on Apartheid South Africa, it is also a fundamental misreading of the extent of the crisis in Zimbabwe. As the situation continues to get worse on a daily basis, there is a distinct possibility that the southern African region will be negatively affected by the fallout from Zimbabwe’s implosion. This fallout could in all likelihood constitute a threat to international peace and security.
South Africa, as the leading nation in the region, has a moral responsibility to tell Harare that its brutal intolerance of legitimate opposition will no longer be accepted. By shielding President Mugabe from international scrutiny, Pretoria has become complicit in suppression of democratic freedoms in Zimbabwe.
South Africa is rapidly developing a reputation as a defender of the world’s pariahs; our tenure at the head of the UNSC is characterised by an indifference to human rights and temporising with tyranny. We have now all but lost much of the moral high ground we once had under President Mandela. As South Africa prepares to commemorate Human Rights Day on Wednesday, we must urgently reassess our position and make sure that Zimbabwe is placed on the UNSC’s agenda.
Our window of opportunity is fast closing, as Britain will next month assume the UNSC chairpersonship. If they put Zimbabwe on the agenda when we opposed such a move, our moral high ground will be lost completely.
Tony Leon MP
Leader of the Democratic Alliance
19 March 2007