CIVIC ACTIVISTS KEEP UP STREET PRESSURE

C O N F I D E N T I A L HARARE 001106 SIPDIS SIPDIS NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR B. PITTMAN USAID FOR L.DOBBINS AND E. LOKEN ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU ADDIS ABABA FOR ACSS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/12/2017 TAGS: PHUM PGOV ZI ASEC WMN SUBJECT: CIVIC ACTIVISTS KEEP UP STREET PRESSURE Classified By: Poloff Scott Higgins, reason: 1.4 d ¶1. (U) In the past week, activists from Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) and National Constitutional Assembly (NCA),two local pro-democracy NGOs, staged separate street demonstrations in Harare that resulted in beatings by police and arrests. WOZA and NCA remain the most active civil society groups willing to risk assault and arrest to continue to pressure the Mugabe regime on respect for human rights, restoration of democracy and social justice. ¶2. (U) More than 75 WOZA members took to the streets of Harare on December 11 to conduct a peaceful protest to mark the end of the international campaign "16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence" and the year anniversary of the launch of the group's People's Charter. As the march approached Parliament, riot police moved in and ordered the group to disperse. The marchers turned and headed away from Parliament, but continued to chant slogans and distribute flyers. Police used batons to disperse the group. As the crowd scattered, Poloff observed police chasing and beating the activists as they ran through heavy downtown traffic for more than three city blocks. Police also arrested three WOZA support staff for taking pictures from a nearby vehicle. They were released the same day after being charged with criminal nuisance and paying a ZW$40,000 fine (about US$.02 at the parallel market rate). ¶3. (U) On December 7, police in Harare used batons to break up an estimated crowd of 300 NCA activists demanding a new constitution and protesting the ongoing economic meltdown resulting from more than seven years of disastrous government policies. One activist was arrested and later released without charge. Several activists sustained minor injuries. ¶4. (C) This latest NCA action follows the brutal suppression of a November 22 peaceful demonstration by 300 NCA members. The demonstrators were attempting to impress on South African President Thabo Mbeki, in Harare to press for a quick conclusion to the drawn-out mediation talks between the ruling party and the opposition, the need for an end to ongoing violence. Shortly after the march, 22 NCA activists were abducted and tortured. Dr. Frances Lovemore, the attending physician and director of USG-funded Counseling Services Unit (CSU),a local NGO that provides medical and psycho-social assistance to victims of state-violence, told Ambassador McGee, who visited the victims in the hospital, that the assailants were likely members of the ZANU-PF youth militia or the Central Intelligence Organization (CIO). -------------- Comment -------------- ¶5. (C) While the rest of civil society waits quietly for the conclusion of the SADC mediation talks, NCA and WOZA continue to regularly stage small, but effective demonstrations that routinely attract a violent response from police. While political intimidation and violence continue throughout Zimbabwe, it is these urban demonstrations that receive press coverage and demonstrate to the world that government repression continues unabated. End Comment. MCGEE