ZIMBABWE UPDATE: MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR SLAIN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 000245

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

AF/S FOR S.HILL
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU
ADDIS ABABA FOR ACSS
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR E.LOKEN
STATE PASS TO NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR B.PITTMAN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM ZI
SUBJECT: ZIMBABWE UPDATE: MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR SLAIN
ACTIVIST TOMORROW; WEEKEND MDC PRO-SENATE FACTION RALLY
FIZZLES


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Summary
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1. (SBU) The memorial service for slain MDC activist Gift
Tandare will be held tomorrow. The organizers are planning a
low-key event to avoid government intervention. Western
diplomats plan to attend as a further restraint. Separately,
the pro-Senate MDC faction's plans for a weekend rally to
demonstrate opposition to the government fizzled when the
government lifted the ban for the event. End Summary.

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Memorial Service for Slain Activist
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2. (SBU) The Save Zimbabwe Campaign intends to hold a
memorial service March 27 for Gift Tandare, the opposition
activist slain by police on March 11. Catholic Archbishop
Pius Ncube will deliver the main sermon at the service, which
will be held at the Northside Community Church in the low
density suburb of Borrowdale. Speakers will include NCA
president Lovemore Madhuku, and MDC leaders Morgan Tsvangirai
and Arthur Mutambara.


3. (SBU) The organizers of the service told us the venue was
selected in order to minimize the threat of government
intervention. Northside Community Church is located in a
low-density area in one of the more affluent areas of Harare.
The organizers said for the same reason there were no plans
to hold a march in connection with the service. Save
Zimbabwe organizers told us they would bus attendees to the
church from their homes in high-density areas. They expected
two to three thousand people to attend.


4. (SBU) Organizers were cautiously optimistic that the
service would not provoke arrests or violence by government
security agents. However, the Save Zimbabwe campaign has
issued invitations to the diplomatic community, and Charge,
accompanied by other Embassy officials, will attend. Most of
the European Ambassadors are also planning to attend. (N.B.
We have worked closely with the UK Mission to ensure a large
turnout of diplomats both to forestall the possibility of
violence and to signal that the diplomatic corps in Harare
will do its job regardless of GOZ threats.)

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Pro-Senate rally fizzles
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5. (SBU) The GOZ last week officially annouced a one-month
ban on demonstrations in several arare areas. Police
officials had previously anounced a sweeping three month
ban, which would lkely have been struck down by the courts,
as eve the draconian Public Security and Order Act (POSA
limits such bans to one month. The government then promptly
lifted the ban for a scheduled March 24 rally by the
pro-Senate faction of the MDC in the high-density area of
Chitingwitza.


6. (SBU) The rally had been called in the first place to
demonstrate the pro-Senate faction,s willingness to take on
the government and to dampen criticism that they were hiding
behind Morgan Tsvangirai's anti-Senate faction. In any

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event, the pro-Senate leadership apparently decided not to
push the rally and few of their supporters showed. Allowing
the demonstration to proceed appears to have been another
attempt on the part of the GOZ to divide the two MDC factions.

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Comment
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7. (SBU) There is a sense that things have calmed down in
Zimbabwe for now. We do not anticipate violence at the
Tandare service. There is, however, a good chance that the
government may try to limit the number of mourners at the
event by stopping the buses from the high-density areas. In
addition to an Embassy presence at the service, we will also
be monitoring government actions elsewhere in Harare. End
Comment.
SCHULTZ