News / National
UN rights chief meets Mugabe
23 May 2012 at 12:22hrs | Views
UN rights chief Navi Pillay told veteran Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe in talks on Wednesday to ensure fair and violence-free elections when the country finally votes to pick a new leader.
Ms Pillay was speaking when she met Mugabe at State House this Wednesday.
Emerging from the meeting, which lasted nearly two hours, Ms Pillay described the meeting as very important, saying Mugabe explained to her the country's history on how the local indigenous people were deprived and what government is doing to redress colonial imbalances.
"I also urged him to ensure that the future elections will be free and fair, and free from violence," Pillay said after the 90-minute meeting with Mugabe at State House, in the capital Harare.
She would however, not be drawn into commenting on the specific issues.
In a speech marking the country's 32nd independence anniversary last month Mugabe urged Zimbabweans to shun violence ahead of polls whose date is not year set, but which he insists be held this year.
"I commended the president for making a call that there should be no violence in the future elections and urged him to continue to make such calls," Pillay said Wednesday.
Mugabe did not speak to reporters after the talks.
Pillay also met earlier in the week with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who joined the long-ruling Mugabe in a unity government formed in 2009 to halt the election-linked bloodshed that killed more than 200 of the premier's supporters.
The UN Human Rights chief is on a six day visit of the country during which she is meeting various government ministers, civic groups, farmers and other stakeholders.
Earlier, Ms Pillay has applauded Zimbabwe's land reform programme for empowering thousands of rural people and former farm labourers, among them women.
Ms Pillay, accompanied by Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) Chairperson, Monica Chinamasa as well as farmer organisation representatives, visited Boka Tobacco Auction floors in Harare this Wednesday morning and witnessed how formerly marginalised black Zimbabwean farmers are being empowered through the production of tobacco.
She was impressed with what she saw and heard from the farmers who gave an account of their success stories.
She said the land redistribution exercise has given the formerly marginalised Zimbabweans hope, dignity and a source of livelihood that will enable them to send their children to schools and other institutions of higher learning.
She was however concerned about the challenges that farmers face in accessing inputs and equipment, as well as transporting their produce.
She welcomed the increasing number of women involved in tobacco farming, adding that more people should be given access to the programme and to property rights.
Ms Pillay said rural women should be given access to decision making bodies that ensure that their skills are passed on to other generations.
Over 300 000 were resettled under Zimbabwe's land reform programme which started in 2000.
Ms Pillay was speaking when she met Mugabe at State House this Wednesday.
Emerging from the meeting, which lasted nearly two hours, Ms Pillay described the meeting as very important, saying Mugabe explained to her the country's history on how the local indigenous people were deprived and what government is doing to redress colonial imbalances.
"I also urged him to ensure that the future elections will be free and fair, and free from violence," Pillay said after the 90-minute meeting with Mugabe at State House, in the capital Harare.
She would however, not be drawn into commenting on the specific issues.
In a speech marking the country's 32nd independence anniversary last month Mugabe urged Zimbabweans to shun violence ahead of polls whose date is not year set, but which he insists be held this year.
"I commended the president for making a call that there should be no violence in the future elections and urged him to continue to make such calls," Pillay said Wednesday.
Mugabe did not speak to reporters after the talks.
Pillay also met earlier in the week with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who joined the long-ruling Mugabe in a unity government formed in 2009 to halt the election-linked bloodshed that killed more than 200 of the premier's supporters.
The UN Human Rights chief is on a six day visit of the country during which she is meeting various government ministers, civic groups, farmers and other stakeholders.
Earlier, Ms Pillay has applauded Zimbabwe's land reform programme for empowering thousands of rural people and former farm labourers, among them women.
Ms Pillay, accompanied by Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) Chairperson, Monica Chinamasa as well as farmer organisation representatives, visited Boka Tobacco Auction floors in Harare this Wednesday morning and witnessed how formerly marginalised black Zimbabwean farmers are being empowered through the production of tobacco.
She was impressed with what she saw and heard from the farmers who gave an account of their success stories.
She said the land redistribution exercise has given the formerly marginalised Zimbabweans hope, dignity and a source of livelihood that will enable them to send their children to schools and other institutions of higher learning.
She was however concerned about the challenges that farmers face in accessing inputs and equipment, as well as transporting their produce.
She welcomed the increasing number of women involved in tobacco farming, adding that more people should be given access to the programme and to property rights.
Ms Pillay said rural women should be given access to decision making bodies that ensure that their skills are passed on to other generations.
Over 300 000 were resettled under Zimbabwe's land reform programme which started in 2000.
Source - Byo24News
