This morning’s statement by Cabinet spokesperson Themba Maseko that the government could not stop the shipment of a cache of arms to Zimbabwe because it has to “tread very carefully” in its relations with Zimbabwe is the surest sign yet that government has completely lost the plot on the Zimbabwe issue.
If the government allows a consignment of weapons (including rocket launchers and ammunition) to cross South African territory unhindered, and stands idly by while these weapons are used to suppress the Zimbabwean people, then any pretence that we are an honest broker in the Zimbabwean electoral process will be exposed once and for all for the sham that it is.
World leaders are growing increasingly impatient with the South African government’s inability to grasp the urgency and seriousness of the crisis in Zimbabwe. According to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the “very credibility of the democratic process in Africa” is at stake. A number of permanent members of the UN Security Council have also raised concerns about the escalating violence and political oppression taking place in Zimbabwe. It is being reported from within Zimbabwe that the ZANU-PF government has stepped up the deployment of the army, police and intelligence units countrywide in order to harass and intimidate supporters of the opposition.
In this context of increasing violence, it will be inexcusable for South Africa to fail to stop the shipment of weapons being delivered to Harare. Apart from the obvious moral imperatives for stopping the shipment, the government is also legally obliged to act. According to the National Conventional Arms Control Act (NCACA), anyone who conveys, freights, or transfers conventional weapons is required to apply for a conveyance permit, and permits must only be granted by the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) after considering how those weapons will be used.
It clearly states in the Act that the NCACC must avoid transfers of weapons to governments that suppress human rights or where the weapons are likely to escalate conflict and endanger peace. The situation in Zimbabwe, by anyone’s standards, fails to meet these criteria.
The DA will urgently request that the Defence Portfolio Committee be briefed by the NCACC to explain without delay whether the necessary permit was granted and if so on what grounds.
The world’s astonishment at President Mbeki’s political defence of Robert Mugabe will likely turn into outright anger as we are now not only denying the existence of a crisis in Zimbabwe, but also actively facilitating the arming of an increasingly despotic and desperate regime.

Almost half a million Ivorians have received new birth certificates, the first step in a process to enable them to vote in national general elections scheduled for later this year, the United Nations Mission in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) reported today.
Electoral officials with UNOCI said “good progress” has been made in formally identifying the population in Côte d’Ivoire since a round of UN-facilitated public hearings began across the country, which became divided in 2002 between the Government-controlled south and the rebel-held north.

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) today welcomed the announcement that the country’s much delayed presidential elections will now be held on 30 November this year.
The publication of the poll date “is one of the greatest achievements in the Ivorian peace process since the outbreak of the crisis more than four years ago,” UNOCI said in a press release issued in Abidjan.
Côte d’Ivoire became divided in 2002 between the Government-controlled south and the rebel Forces Nouvelles-held north, but last year’s Ouagadougou Peace Agreement paved the way for an end to the conflict and included a provision calling for free and fair elections to be held.
Presidential polls were to be held as far back as 2005, but have been delayed several times since then.
In its statement UNOCI encouraged all Ivorian parties “to consolidate the current momentum by demonstrating the same will to move ahead and the same commitment to public interest.”

On 14 March, the Republic of Madagascar formally joined the International Criminal Court (ICC) by depositing its instrument of ratification to the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the ICC, at the United Nations. Madagascar is the 106th state party, and the 30th African state to join the Court.
“As the International Criminal Court presses on with its four investigations on the continent–Uganda, DRC, Darfur and the Central African Republic–it is now crucial that African nations join in solidarity with victims of these brutal crimes to ensure justice nationally and internationally,” said Brigitte Suhr, director of regional programs for the Coalition for the International Criminal Court. “Madagascar’s ratification today brings us one important step closer to universal support for the ICC in Africa.”
Madagascar’s ratification of the Rome Statute comes almost ten years after the state initially signed the treaty on 18 July 1998, one day after the historic adoption of the Rome Statute. A number of legal and constitutional hurdles delayed the process.
Civil society organizations in Madagascar played a significant role in campaigning for the ratification of the Rome Statute and the adoption of the constitutional referendum allowing ratification. Civil society was also instrumental in broadly publicizing the referendum once it had been adopted in order to put further pressure on the government to finalize the ratification process.

Members of the Tunisia Monitoring Group (TMG), a coalition of 18 member organisations of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) network, are appalled at the treatment of human rights activists Sihem Bensedrine and Omar Mestiri upon their arrival in Tunisia on 3 March 2008.
Bensedrine is the Secretary General of the Observatory for the Freedom of Press, Publishing and Creation in Tunisia (OLPEC), IFEX’s member in Tunisia, and an IFEX-TMG partner. Bensedrine is also spokesperson of the National Council for Liberties in Tunisia (CNLT). Mestiri is the managing editor of “Kalima” online newspaper.
According to OLPEC’s vice-president Naziha Rjiba, the two activists arrived from Europe in the port of La Goulette. Upon arrival, they were held by customs for six hours, during which time Bensedrine was violently attacked, leaving bruises on her body. The customs agents confiscated cell phones, documents and computer hard discs from both Bensedrine and Mestiri – copying files and passwords from their laptops.
This assault follows a recent attack on Samia Abbou and Fatma Ksila, two women activists who were assaulted by police in Sousse on 18 February.
“I find it hard to believe that just days before International Women’s Day, the government of Tunisia would sanction such a vicious attack on a woman.” says IFEX-TMG Chair Rohan Jayasekera, of Index on Censorship. “Yet, it comes on the heels of recent attacks on two other women activists, not to mention numerous other attacks on women rights defenders, including Sihem.”
Bensedrine has previously been assaulted on numerous occasions, including while in prison in 2001. She has suffered broken ribs and other injuries, and been called vicious names in the pro-government media for her outspoken campaign for democracy and free expression in Tunisia. For her work, she has been awarded the 2008 Danish Peace Award, as well as other awards including the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) 2004 International Press Freedom Award.
The IFEX-TMG believes all rights activists and journalists in Tunisia deserve the same respect under the law of any citizen, and calls for the government to cease these repeated brutal attacks on these courageous activists. TMG members further support the complaint being registered by Bensedrine and Mestiri against the customs agents for brutality and false imprisonment.

The ALN held a workshop on party structure and management, in Maputo Mozambique, 20-22nd of February. The workshop, hosted by ALN member party the PDD and attended by 27 ALN delegates, aimed to boost understanding about the importance of building a party structure that responds to the needs and objectives of the individual party. Themes covered during the workshop included looking at the structure of the party headquarters, the role of members, campaigning, policy and communications.
Following the workshop, the ALN delegates were invited to meet with Mozambique’s president Armando Guebuza.

As part of an ALN initiative to enhance learning and exchanges between member parties, the Democratic Alliance in South Africa recently received Herinandrinanina Andrinananjamanantsoa from MFM Madagascar and Thomas Mongi from CUF Tanzania who took part in a two-week internship. This follows a previous internship which took place in October 2007 with interns from Mozambique and the Seychelles.
The internship, organised and supervised by Gareth Morgan MP, was made up of a series of structured interactions with key role players in the DA’s parliamentary operation and at its National Headquarters. The interns were also invited to observe a number of regular meetings which allowed them to see the DA at work, met with a few MPs including the Chief Whip and the Leader of the Opposition, attended portfolio committee meetings, and had the opportunity to observe oral question time and various debates at the National Assembly. These meetings were backed up by explorations in a key focus area for each of the interns.
The internship provided an excellent opportunity for the participants to gain new ideas approaches and techniques which they said they were keen to implement within their own parties.

At an informal meeting of ALN members during the Liberal International executive meeting in Hamburg, 16-17 November, those present stated that they wished to develop a more powerful collective voice in encouraging responsible liberal politics in Africa and condemning human rights violations on the continent. The meeting was attended by MP Morocco, PDS Senegal, RDR Cote d’Ivoire, ADF-RDA Burkina Faso and ANADER Democratic Republic of the Congo. Other parties from Morocco, Mali and DRC attended as observers.

Mr Ismail Jussa of CUF, Tanzania and Mr Roger Mancienne of SNP, Seychelles represented ALN as speakers at the Liberal International Human Rights Forum which took place  in Taipei, 7-9 December. Mr Jussa drew on the previous and current history of Zanzibar to discuss the issue of human trafficking in Tanzania while Mr Mancienne gave an overview of the ALN, its mission and activities. The forum was hosted by the Democratic Progressive Party, Taiwan’s ruling political party, and centred on the theme of human trafficking.
The event presented an excellent opportunity for both delegates to forge links with other liberals from around the world, and to consider possible ways of fostering cooperation between the ALN and other regional networks.