Human rights abuses are going unpunished and the food crisis is worsening in Zimbabwe while President Robert Mugabe and the opposition bicker over forming a government, Amnesty International said today.
Mr Mugabe and the leaders of the opposition MDC agreed last month to share power, but talks have stalled over control of ministries. Setting up a unity government is seen as critical to reversing an economic meltdown in the southern African nation.
Zimbabweans are struggling to survive amid chronic shortages of meat, milk and other basic commodities as a result of the collapse of the agricultural sector. The country is dependent on food handouts and malnutrition is on the rise.
"We are disappointed that the parties have continued bickering over who controls what ministries and not looked at finding a long-lasting solution to the human rights crisis in Zimbabwe," Simeon Mawanza, the rights group's Zimbabwe expert, said at a news conference in Johannesburg.
"Human rights was never at the centre of those talks."
London-based Amnesty said no one had been held accountable for the beatings, torture and other rights violations that occurred before the June presidential election even though it said most victims it interviewed could identify their attackers.
It said the perpetrators usually were in the security forces, Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party or were pro-Mugabe war veterans. The 84-year-old Zimbabwean leader has blamed the opposition for the bloodshed that killed more than 100 people.
A March presidential election won by Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai was generally peaceful, but the June run-off was marred by widespread attacks on opposition supporters by security forces.
Mr Tsvangirai pulled out of the second round, citing the attacks on his supporters. Mr Mugabe won the one-candidate race, prompting an international outcry and paving the way for the start of power-sharing negotiations.
Those talks culminated in a September 15th agreement that spurred hopes of a quick economic recovery.
But Zimbabwe's agriculture-based economy has continued to unravel during the weeks of fruitless talks over formation of a cabinet, and there are now fears the coming harvest could be worse than last year.
Amnesty said the election-related violence had worsened the food crisis and that many Zimbabweans were on the verge of hunger, in some cases surviving on wild fruit and rotten food suitable only for animals.
"The bulk of the people targeted in rural areas were subsistence farmers," Mr Mawanza said. "They had their arms broken, their legs broken. They will require food aid." There are an estimated 13 million people in Zimbabwe.
The 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) has called for an urgent full-scale summit to try to break the deadlock threatening Zimbabwe's power-sharing accord. Officials had said the meeting might be held as early as this week.
Reuters