The Star, Johannesburg, S.Africa, 10 October 1996

Human rights record improving

(extract)

A culture of human rights is emerging in southern Africa and relatively few people are randomly killed or disappear (except in KwaZulu Natal), according to Amnesty International's report for 1995 recently released.

In Malawi and Mozambique, the end of a brutal dictatorship and a civil war respectively brought respect for human rights. South Africa registers marked improvement, but is still marred by violence in KwaZulu Natal. Namibia is gloriously absent from the report, meaning that no human rights abuses were reported in 1995.

Most of the violations reported in southern Africa concerned ill treatment of prisoners and people in custody, violations of press freedom, and harsh police reaction faced with student unrest. Most abuses were committed by zealous police and governments bent on preserving power and quelling dissent.

Press freedom was the main issue in Zambia and Zimbabwe, with several journalists briefly arrested and held as prisoners of conscience. In both countries, criminal defamation charges were levelled in connection with stories that reported negatively on Presidents Chiluba and Mugabe.

Amnesty International has argued that criminal charges such as defamation are used to harass government critics and has called for an end to this practice.

Zimbabwe was noted for excessive use of force by police against university students and the harassment of opposition leader Ndabaningi Sithole, charged with an alleged attempt to kill President Mugabe.

Press freedom was challenged in Tanzania, with six journalists arrested as prisoners of conscience. Authorities there have used criminal charges to harass journalists; about a dozen face charges. In the runup to the elections in Zanzibar, allegations of harassment of opposition parties were made. Courts continue to impose sentences of caning -- 10 strokes for two youths convicted of attempting to steal a car.

In a breach of international and regional treaties, Tanzania closed its border to refugees fleeing Burundi in March. At least one group of 300 refugees was forcibly returned. There were reports of robbery, rape and killings of refugees by Tanzanian soldiers. Amnesty International has called for impartial investigations into these allegations.