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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Zimbabweans Fear Arrests of Oppo Parliamentarians at Swearing In |
| 2008-08-25 |
| The Clerk of Zimbabwe's parliament is expected to swear in elected parliamentarians today (Monday) ahead of the election of parliament speaker for the first time since the controversial March 29 presidential elections. Both factions of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have presented their candidates to vie for the position of speaker of parliament, while the ruling ZANU-PF party is yet to present its candidate. However, some Zimbabweans are reportedly expressing concerns that President Robert Mugabe's government would have the upper hand on who becomes the speaker by preventing opposition parliamentarians who are in hiding for fear of being arrested after various forms of allegations were leveled against them. Glen Mpani is the regional coordinator for the transitional justice program of the Center for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation in Cape Town, South Africa. He tells reporter Peter Clottey that today's swearing in could deepen the political crisis. "The members of parliament are going to be sworn in by the clerk of parliament and Mugabe is going to convene parliament on Tuesday when he is going to open the seventh session of parliament. My take on the opening of parliament is that it just shifts the unresolved conflict of Zimbabwe to parliament where we are going to have the three contending parties using parliament as the way of extending the unresolved issues that SADC (Southern African Development Community) has failed to resolve in the negotiation," Mpani noted. |
| Posted by:Steve White |