Caricom Heads of Government who met in Antigua this week have condemned the recent elections in Zimbabwe as undemocratic and called on the African Union (AU) to enable a negotiated outcome.
In their communiqué issued last night from St John’s, Caricom said that it has followed with great concerns the developments in Harare.
“The first round of the electoral process was tarnished by grave irregularities and inordinate delays in the announcement of the results and allegations of manipulation of these results to force a runoff”, it said. It noted that the second round of the elections was further marred by rampant political violence, intimidation and harassment which led to the withdrawal of the opposition candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai.
“The Caribbean Community condemns this unacceptable trampling of the democratic and electoral processes in Zimbabwe. Held in circumstances which made a free and fair ballot impossible, these elections were totally devoid of legitimacy as they did not reflect the will of the people of Zimbabwe“, the Heads said.
Caricom said while it acknowledged the complexity of the situation in Zimbabwe, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the AU should use their best efforts to find a negotiated outcome to prevent a further deepening of the social, economic and political crisis for the Zimbabwean people of Zimbabwe and neighbouring states.
The statement made no mention of re-elected President, Robert Mugabe who has been widely condemned internationally.
Caricum is really a talk shop and people are being paid to nothing. There are situations exsisting now in guyana where caricom leaders are turning a blind eye. Stop fooling people caricom we are used to your game now.
……. hmmmmm ! wonder why ,, none of them from Caricom never mentioned this
barbaric display for the continuation of a demented mind to rule a people ,,
Why is caricom concering with zimbabwe?
Guyana has alot to be concerned about, yet caricom ignores it.
Perhaps because they do not see Guyana and it’s peoples as deserving of intervention.
I agree with both “raisinghell” & “bgsbny” and the points they make. I have also thought about a recent war led by the US who were followed by the UK into the middle east.
They invaded a certain country to liberate the people of that nation from a tyrant leader that abused their human rights, oppressed them, executed them and presided over them as a dictator. That country has OIL!!!
OH! and where are the weapons of mass destruction they were supposed to be there?
The people of Zimbabwe are oppressed some are executed and all have their human rights abused but they have no OIL!!! Where are the US & UK? no oil, no need to send in the forces.
“raisinghell” makes the point that Caricom is just a talking shop and I agree as in some of those States their are human rights issues to which they are turning a blind eye.
“bgsbny” makes the point about no condemnation of a demented mind that has rule over a people. I know what you’re saying, maybe same type of minds ruling nearer to home where opposition voices silenced.
CARICOM, BRING, GO. Do they realy know which direction to take on international affairs or do they just say the right thing. Ye masser, No masser. Whatever you say masser. If you have something to say Caricom, say it first and not after the US & UK.
Without this condemnation, Caricom would have been seen as supporting Mugabe.
The opposition in Zimbabwe have every right to lobby and to protest these fradulent election’s run-off, and given the history of some members, Guyana included, it was up to Caricom to step up to the plate on this one.
Apart from African and the Caribbean which other govts of the world can Mugabe be able to persuade that they are really on their side. This was a blow to Mugabe, plain and simple and kudos to the opposition in Zimbabwe for sticking it out. Hoping that your efforts would soon be paid off when this man goes on the road!
We must not forget that although Britain was prepared , to grant independence to the colony, the white immigrants there opposed any change and refused to cooperate with the transfer of power to the black majority- Ian Smith the colony’s PM saying there will never be a black govt. never in my lifetime he said. During the struggle for independence that took place Harold Wilson the British PM refused to send troops to topple Ian Smith’s govt which he described as ‘our kith and kin’. Blacks eventually won their freedom but the UK was never really happy to see land occupied by their kith and kin returned to blacks, so instead of offering help to deal with the country’s problems they are using these problems as an oppurtunity for the UK, its kith and kin along with its friends i.e. US, Holland , Germany, France etc to bring back the good old days, and they are doing so through support for the opposition party. Also by putting pressure on smaller countries within their sphere of influence to follow their line.
This is a bunch of boloney.
Zimbabwe got it’s independence.
It was Magube is the one that ran the country into the cesspool
Just like Guyana is headed under this dictatorship. Did the UK cause the woes of what’s going on in Guyana too. Give us a break!!!