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12/05/2003
Straw hits out at Zimbabwe
The Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, today wrote to Michael Ancram MP, Shadow Foreign Secretary, on Zimbabwe. Responding to Mr Ancram's letters of 7 and 8 May, Jack Straw wrote: "On 7 May you asked about an alleged invitation for Robert Mugabe to attend the
G8 Summit in Evian. No such invitation has issued, nor I am told has one been discussed or even thought of.
"On 8 May you asked about Interpol's decision to appoint Police Chief Chihuri
as its Vice President The facts of the case are these. Chihuri was first
elected to the Executive Committee of Interpol in 1996. He was re-elected in
1999 and his second term ended in 2002. His appointment to the honorary
position of Vice President was made by Interpol's existing Executive Committee in March 2003. There is no British representation on this committee, and we were not involved in the appointment.
However, I believe that the decision to reward Chihuri in this way was wrong.
Had we been asked we would have said so. It is an insult to the people who
have suffered at the hands of the Zimbabwean police and other state security
apparatus in that country. The UK continues to protest at the violations of
human rights there and we were at the forefront of preparing the resolution on Zimbabwe at this year's UN Commission on Human Rights. This resolution
condemned the climate of impunity, incidents of arbitrary arrest and violations of key freedoms, and called upon the government of Zimbabwe to put an end to impunity and to fulfil its responsibility to ensure that those responsible for human rights violations are brought to justice."
G8 Summit in Evian. No such invitation has issued, nor I am told has one been discussed or even thought of.
"On 8 May you asked about Interpol's decision to appoint Police Chief Chihuri
as its Vice President The facts of the case are these. Chihuri was first
elected to the Executive Committee of Interpol in 1996. He was re-elected in
1999 and his second term ended in 2002. His appointment to the honorary
position of Vice President was made by Interpol's existing Executive Committee in March 2003. There is no British representation on this committee, and we were not involved in the appointment.
However, I believe that the decision to reward Chihuri in this way was wrong.
Had we been asked we would have said so. It is an insult to the people who
have suffered at the hands of the Zimbabwean police and other state security
apparatus in that country. The UK continues to protest at the violations of
human rights there and we were at the forefront of preparing the resolution on Zimbabwe at this year's UN Commission on Human Rights. This resolution
condemned the climate of impunity, incidents of arbitrary arrest and violations of key freedoms, and called upon the government of Zimbabwe to put an end to impunity and to fulfil its responsibility to ensure that those responsible for human rights violations are brought to justice."
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