Ban Ki Moon urges Mugabe to respect people's rights

The United Nations has called on the Zimbabwean government to respect people's rights, saying the international organisation was "closely monitoring the country's situation".

This comes as Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis is deepening, with people taking to the streets demanding President Robert Mugabe's immediate resignation.

Police have unsuccessfully tried to quash the protests by brutally attacking protestors.

Responding to journalists during a briefing at the UN headquarters in New York on Friday, the organisation's secretary-general Ban Ki Moon's spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric expressed concern over police brutality in Zimbabwe.

"We're obviously watching the situation in Zimbabwe very closely.  We urge the authorities, the government of Zimbabwe, to ensure that people's right to peaceful protest and assembly be fully respected," he said.

"Steph, the Zimbabwe police today (Friday) put down violently a court-sanctioned protest calling for electoral reforms. Part of those petitions are that the UN observe elections in 2018. What are your thoughts on how the police reacted to that, to this protest?" a journalist had asked Dujarric.

Western embassies, among them the United Kingdom, the United States, the European Union, Canada and Australia have condemned the police's heavy-handed and violent approach in dealing with protestors.

Opposition parties, activists as well as citizens have also petitioned the UN secretary-general and called on the African Union and Sadc to intervene in the escalating Zimbabwean crisis.

One of the activists pushing to the UN, Fransica Mandeya, told our sister paper the Daily News recently that she was doing everything possible to get the Zimbabwean story on the international spotlight and at the forthcoming general assembly in September.

"Our move is to garner support from the international media and to use all avenues on social media to ensure that Ban Ki Moon is personally aware of the petition and pressure keeps mounting," she said.

There are calls for Sadc to put Zimbabwe on the agenda at the Swaziland summit next week.

The Elders — who include former UN secretary-general Koffi Annan, Desmond Tutu and Graca Machel - have written to Sadc calling on the regional block to intervene in the Zimbabwean crisis and facilitate a smooth transition of power, as the "Mugabe must go" chorus gets louder.