Photo: Sri Lankan Army

Hundreds of Tamil civilians have fled, but thousands more remain trapped inside the No Fire Zone

COLOMBO,  – The UN has described the two-day cease-fire on 13 and 14 April declared by the Sri Lankan government as “inadequate” in easing the plight of tens of thousand of Tamil civilians still trapped in a narrow 12km-long so-called No Fire Zone in northern Sri Lanka.

“It’s clear that 48 hours was not long enough to allow us to get in significant amounts of aid, or indeed to allow visits by humanitarian workers to the area,” Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes told reporters on 15 April in New York, warning of a possible “blood bath”.

“Unfortunately, it is also clear that not only did this not allow more civilians to get out, there seemed to be less civilians getting out during the pause than before,” he said.

Only 752 civilians were able to flee the combat zone during the government-declared truce, military officials told IRIN – 513 on 13 April and 239 on 14 April. Another 135 passed into government-controlled areas on 15 April, they said.

“Civilians should not be used as pawns or human shields in this way,” Holmes told reporters, calling on the LTTE to allow safe passage out of the combat zone to those wishing to leave.

The UN estimates that at least 150,000 civilians are still inside the combat zone, while the government says the figure is around 60,000.

As of 16 April, over 65,000 have managed to escape the fighting overland since December 2008, according to government figures.

On 14 April the LTTE, which has been fighting for an independent Tamil homeland since 1983, called for a permanent truce with international mediation.

As fighting resumed in the area, however, Holmes called on the government “to live up to the promises they made on repeated occasions not to use heavy weapons in this area,” which, he said, was contributing to civilian casualties.

ap/ds/cb source.www.irinnews.org

Photo: South African DFA

President Robert Mugabe

HARARE, – Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s seizure of a ministry controlled by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is casting more doubt on his commitment to the fledgling power-sharing deal.

The birth of the unity government on 11 February 2009 was designed to dilute the powers accumulated during Mugabe’s nearly 29-year rule, which has reduced the once prosperous nation to penury.

The first few months of the unity government have been characterized by Mugabe’s intransigence and flouting of the Global Political Agreement (GPA), brokered between Mugabe’s ZANU-PF and the MDC by former South African president Thabo Mbeki, under the auspices of the Southern African Development Community.

What is clear, following the outcry as a result of Mugabe’s actions, is that the decision to change the ministries was not arrived at as a result of consultation and consent

Mugabe has unilaterally announced that the transport ministry, controlled by ZANU-PF stalwart Nicholas Goche, would be expanded to absorb the functions of the ministry of information, communication and technology, headed by Nelson Chamisa, who is also the MDC’s spokesperson.

Among the responsibilities taken from the MDC was control of Net One, a mobile phone network and services provider, postal services, and the fixed-line phone network provider, Tel One.

Tsvangirai declared the grab “null and void”, saying, “This [appointment) does not only fly in the face of the letter and spirit of the Global Political Agreement, but is also an illegality, as the GPA has legal effect."

ZANU-PF's absorption of the communications ministry allows it to avoid obtaining authorization from the MDC to spy on its citizens.

Spying on its citizens

The Interception of Communications Act permits Zimbabwe's security agencies, controlled by ZANU-PF under the GPA, to monitor telephone conversations and e-mails, and intercept letters, but had required the consent of the communications minister.

Mugabe's realignment of ministries was "in total violation of the GPA, which is very clear that all major decisions made by the [unity] government would be as a result of consultation and consent,” political commentator Chris Mhike told IRIN.

“What is clear, following the outcry as a result of Mugabe’s actions, is that the decision to change the ministries was not arrived at as a result of consultation and consent.”

Since its inception the unity government has suffered numerous body blows, in which Mugabe has contravened both the spirit and letter of the GPA, and the violations have been met with a standard response by Tsvangirai that Mugabe’s actions were “null and void”.

Mugabe unilaterally reappointed permanent secretaries in government ministries without consultation; opposition and civil society activists, and a journalist, remain jailed on charges of “recruiting bandits” to topple Mugabe; Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono, who presided over the collapse of the economy, was reappointed – without consultation – for another five-year term.

Provincial governors have still not been appointed. In line with the March 2008 election results, in which ZANU-PF lost control of parliament for the first time since independence from Britain in 1980, most governors have to be chosen from the MDC.

Mugabe has also refused to swear in the deputy agriculture minister designate, Roy Bennett, a white former commercial farmer whose land was taken as part of the fast-track land reform programme that began in 2000 and triggered the eventual collapse of Zimbabwe’s economy.

If the country is unable to secure the requested funding, we are more likely to see discontent and social unrest that will challenge the strength of the unity government

Since the unity government came into office, the material conditions of Zimbabweans have changed little. More than half the country relies on emergency food assistance, unemployment is estimated at 94 percent and pleas for a multibillion-dollar assistance package have so far gone unanswered.

“If the country is unable to secure the requested funding, we are more likely to see discontent and social unrest that will challenge the strength of the unity government,” warned a recent report by the Standard Bank, one of South Africa’s largest.

“The humanitarian crisis might also worsen. The recovery process might be longer and more difficult, with the high probability of divergence among major political parties in the unity government,” the report commented.

Finance minister Tendai Biti told IRIN that the unity government was only receiving US$20 million a month, one-fifth of its minimum monthly requirement.

dd/go/he  source.www.irinnews.org