LONDON, UK
British parliamentarians are pushing the country’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's government to withdraw an invitation to Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa to attend the coronation of King Charles III, citing alleged human rights violations in the Southern African country.
President Mnangagwa last week
said he was "excited" to receive an invite to attend the royal event
on May 6.
He will be the first
Zimbabwean leader to visit London in over two decades after the United Kingdom
imposed sanctions on Harare over alleged human rights violations and electoral
fraud during the rule of the late Robert Mugabe.
But a letter written to
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly that was signed by the chairperson of
the All-Party Parliamentary Group Zimbabwe (APPG) in the House of Commons,
Navendu Mishra, urged the UK government to advise Buckingham Palace to
reconsider the invitation of the Zimbabwean leader.
“To summarise, political
violence and human rights abuses are widespread with opposition members of
parliament and party members [being] harassed, beaten, imprisoned and
murdered,” the APPG said.
“Corruption is rife, extending
to the highest levels of government, destroying the economy and impoverishing
the Zimbabwe people and the judiciary as well as the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission (ZEC) and all institutions of the state have been suborned to the
ruling party,” it added.
"The main opposition
party leader Nelson Chamisa is habitually denied permission to hold rallies and
his political activities are frequently disrupted by violent Zanu-PF supporters
and the police,” the legislators added.
“The ZEC appointees are
overwhelmingly Zanu-PF supporters, including the sons and daughters of key
Zanu-PF officials,” they added.
They also raised the issue of
opposition legislator Job Sikhala, who was arrested nearly a year ago for
speaking on behalf of the family of a slain opposition activist.
“It is more than 300 days
since Zimbabwe’s Citizens Coalition for Change Deputy Chairperson Job Sikhala
was detained after providing legal representation to the family of murdered
opposition campaigner Moreblessing Ali,” the APPG said.
“Since then, he has been held
without trial at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison and denied his
constitutional right to bail,” they added.
The legislators said inviting
Mnangagwa, who took over from Mugabe in 2017 following a military coup, will
send the wrong signal that the UK condones bad governance.
“The coronation invitation
will inevitably be used by Mnangagwa as tacit acceptance by the UK of publicly
evidenced political violence and repression in the run up to the forthcoming
election and will be deeply demoralising to ordinary Zimbabweans in their
struggle for democracy,” the MPs said.
“We, therefore, urge the
government to withdraw President Mnangagwa’s invitation until Sikhala and other
political prisoners are granted their constitutional right to bail and concrete
actions are taken to address human rights abuses and guarantee free and fair
elections,” the MPs said.
The UK was still part of the
EU when Brussels first imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe in 2002 following a
disputed presidential election.
After Brexit, London imposed a
set of targeted sanctions against Zimbabwean security chiefs for their alleged
involvement in human rights violations. - Africa
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