Democracy for Africa: 2010

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Ivory Coast's electoral commission has said opposition candidate Alassane Ouattara has won the presidential run-off but the Constitutional Court has contested the announcement.

The BBC's John James in the main city Abidjan says there will now be a tug of war between the two bodies with the outcome unclear.

Supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo had tried to block the result, saying there had been fraud in the north.

Former rebels control this area.

It is also where Mr Ouattara is most popular.The election is intended to reunify the world's largest cocoa producer.The announcement of the result of Sunday's run-off has been much delayed, leading to heightened tension in the country.At least four people were killed on Wednesday night in an attack on an office of Mr Ouattara's party.

The Constitutional Court said the electoral commission's failure to announce the result by Wednesday's deadline meant it was taking over the declaration.

But at about the same time, electoral commission head Youssouf Bakayoko said Mr Ouattara had won 54% of the vote.

He was speaking under armed guard at a hotel, rather than from the commission headquarters.

Source: BBC

Security Council and Secretary-General welcome release of Ivorian poll results

The United Nations Security Council and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed the announcement by Côte d’Ivoire’s electoral authorities of the provisional results of Sunday’s presidential run-off, while urging calm amid reported violence in the West African nation.
According to press reports, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) today declared former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara the winner of the elections in which he ran against incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo.

The announcement of the provisional results is “a crucial step for ensuring the validity and integrity of the electoral process and thereby an important element in the process of certification of the final results by the Special Representative,” Ambassador Susan Rice of the United States, which holds the Council’s presidency for December, said a statement read out to the press.

“The Secretary-General calls upon the Constitutional Council to expeditiously initiate the process of proclamation of the final results, respecting the will of the people of Côte d'Ivoire, so that his Special Representative can certify those results, in keeping with his mandate,” said a statement issued by the Secretary-General’s spokesperson.
The Council’s statement followed a closed-door meeting of the Council in which members were briefed on the latest developments via videolink by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Côte d’Ivoire, Y. J. Choi. The 15-member body took note of Mr. Choi’s assessment that the run-off was conducted in a “democratic climate.”

The Council also reminded the leaders that they bear primary responsibility for ensuring a peaceful process and called on them to “exercise restraint, refrain from any interference in the work of the IEC, and honour their commitments to respect the results, address their complaints through the legal procedures and resolve their differences peacefully.

“They further urged the supporters of the candidates to refrain from any provocation or recourse to violence throughout the electoral process.”

Mr. Ban said stressed that all parties and leaders would bear the responsibility for any violent actions of their supporters.

He also reassured the people of Côte d'Ivoire that the UN operation in the country, known as UNOCI, “will undertake all possible actions, within its mandate, to help keep the electoral process on track, to preserve peace and security in the country and to support their efforts to successfully conclude the peace process.”

The Deputy Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, meanwhile encouraged authorities in Côte d’Ivoire to investigate “criminal incidents” that had occurred and take measures to prevent others from happening.

“All reported acts of violence will be closely scrutinized by the Office [of the Prosecutor],” Ms. Bensouda said in a statement.

She said that the Office of the Prosecutor has been monitoring the situation in the country before the presidential run-off and will continue to do so and urged supporters of both candidates and security forces to refrain from violence.

“I encourage the political leaders to call on their supporters and fellow citizens to show restraint and avoid unrest,” she said.

Yesterday Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned all sides not to interfere with the work of the IEC, and requested them to demonstrate responsibility and to refrain from any initiative until the announcement of the provisional results.

His call followed media reports that a supporter of Mr. Gbagbo had torn up the first announcements of partial results, and that journalists were barred from entering the IEC.

The West African country, the world’s largest cocoa exporter, was split by civil war in 2002 into a Government-controlled south and a rebel-held north, and UNOCI, with a current strength of over 9,000 uniformed personnel, has been supporting reunification efforts, of which Sunday’s vote was a principal step.

Source: UNIC - Accra

World leaders back Ouattara as Ivory Coast poll winner

World leaders have voiced their support for Ivory Coast opposition candidate Alassane Ouattara, saying he is the true winner of a presidential run-off.

The country's Constitutional Council has overturned results to declare President Laurent Gbagbo the winner - he is due to be sworn in shortly.

The US, UN, France and the West African bloc Ecowas have urged Mr Gbagbo to accept defeat.

The poll was intended to reunify the country after a civil war in 2002.

Prime Minister Guillaume Soro warned the overturning of the results threatened to derail attempts to stabilise and re-unify the country.

On Thursday, the independent Ivorian Election Commission declared that Mr Ouattara had won the 28 November run-off by 54.1% to 45.9%.

But after Mr Gbagbo and his supporters alleged the ballot had been fraudulent, the Constitutional Council overruled the Commission.

Chairman Paul Yao N'Dre said Mr Gbagbo had secured just over 51% of the vote.

Ivorian state media said Mr Gbagbo would be sworn in at a midday ceremony on Saturday.

'Held to account'

"Independent Electoral Commission, credible and accredited observers and the United Nations have all confirmed this result and attested to its credibility," he said.

He congratulated Mr Ouattara and said the international community would "hold those who act to thwart the democratic process and the will of the electorate accountable for their actions".

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France - the former colonial power in Ivory Coast - told Mr Gbagbo to "respect the will of the people, abstain from any action that might provoke violence" and to help establish peace.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon earlier called on Mr Gbagbo "to do his part for the good of the country and to cooperate in a smooth political transition".

The chairman of regional bloc Ecowas, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, said all parties should "respect and fully implement the verdict of the Ivorian people as declared by the Independent Electoral Commission".

The head of the UN mission in Ivory Coast also said it regarded Mr Ouattara as the winner, while the African Union said it was "deeply concerned" by the developments.

Mr Ouattara told reporters on Thursday evening: "I am the elected president of the Republic of Ivory Coast."

"The Constitutional Council has abused its authority, the whole world knows it, and I am sorry for my country's image," he said.

Divided country

There have been dramatic scenes since Sunday over the declaration of the results.

On Tuesday, Mr Gbagbo's representative in the electoral commission tore up the first batch of results as the commission's spokesman was about to announce them.

The electoral commission head, Youssouf Bakayok, then went ahead with an announcement on Thursday, speaking under armed guard at a hotel rather than from the commission's headquarters, declaring Mr Ouattara the winner with 54% of ballots cast.

Not long afterwards, Mr N'Dre said that, as the announcement had come after Wednesday's legal deadline, those results were "null and void".

The presidential poll was intended to reunify the world's largest cocoa producer after a civil war in 2002.

The two candidates represent the two sides of the north-south divide that exists religiously, culturally and administratively, with the northern half still controlled in part by the former rebels.

In a statement, the country's Prime Minster Guillaume Soro said the voiding of votes "threatens the ideal of reunifying the country".

The BBC's John James in Abidjan, the country's main city, says the Constitutional Council's decision has come as a shock to many, especially the opposition.

Youths from the opposing camps took to the streets in Abidjan and other towns, throwing stones and burning tyres.

The military has closed the borders and international news sources are suspended. An overnight curfew is in place.

Both the army and UN peacekeepers have been patrolling the streets of Abidjan since Sunday.

At least four people have been killed in election-related clashes in Abidjan this week.

Source: BBC

US President Barack Obama has rejected the Council's decision.

World leaders back Ouattara as Ivory Coast poll winner

Friday, December 3, 2010

Ivory Coast election result deadline is missed

The head of the electoral commission, Youssouf Bakoyoko, said it was still working to reach a consensus on the results, which have been disputed.

Supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo, and those of the opposition leader, Alassane Ouattara, have accused each other of trying to rig the poll.

The election is supposed to reunify a country divided since a 2002 civil war.

Some 8,000 UN peacekeepers are on alert in case the dispute leads to renewed conflict in the world's largest cocoa producer, which used to be seen as a haven of peace and prosperity in West Africa.

On Tuesday night, the president's representative at the electoral commission publicly tore up the first batch of results amid calls for votes from the former rebel-held north to be annulled. The region is where Mr Ouattara is most popular.

“Start Quote

Whoever wins wins, whoever loses, loses - that's democracy”

Hamadoun ToureUN spokesman

Damana Adia Pickass said there had been an "electoral hold-up".

Mr Ouattara's allies have meanwhile accused the president of trying to block the announcement of the result because he has lost.

The main international observer missions do not support Mr Gbagbo's claims of widespread fraud in the north.

"The second round of the election took place, I would say, in a generally democratic climate," the UN spokesman in Ivory Coast, Hamadoun Toure, told the BBC.

The former colonial power France, the UN, EU and US have urged the Ivorian authorities to announce the results of Sunday's run-off.

Deserted streets

The BBC's John James in the main city Abidjan says the electoral commission includes representatives from both sides and they cannot agree, meaning the results cannot be announced.

Presidential Contenders

Left: Laurent Gbagbo Right: Alassane Ouattara

Laurent Gbagbo (left)

Age: 65
Southerner, Christian
Former history teacher, now president
Took 38% of the first-round vote

Alassane Ouattara (right)

Age: 68
Northerner, Muslim
Economist and former prime minister
Took 32% of the first-round vote

Country profile: Ivory Coast

The long delay has led to mounting tension. Banks have been closed and the streets in the commercial district were almost entirely deserted on Wednesday, our reporter says.

A presidential decree has extended the 1900-0600 curfew until Saturday.

One reliable source told the BBC the officials of the electoral commission had agreed on results from 13 of Ivory Coast's 19 regions, but that the remaining regions were being contested.

The head of the UN's peacekeeping mission, Young-jin Choi, is continuing to shuttle between the various camps and election commission to try to get the results published.

Mr Toure said the UN was disappointed that promises to publish the results quickly in the second round had been broken.

"Whoever wins, wins, whoever loses, loses - that's democracy. They should only resort to democratic means to settle disputes," he told the BBC.

Mr Ouattara told reporters on Wednesday afternoon the uncertainty over the results was worrying.

"It is imperative that the president of the electoral commission proclaims the results," he said.

French concern

Earlier, French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie told French radio that "the results must be published today [Wednesday]".

She also said that French forces would be able to intervene if French nationals or interests were affected.

France retains close economic ties to its former colony but Mr Gbagbo's supporters have previously accused France of bias, and French targets in the country have been attacked.

Our reporter points out that the UN peacekeeping mission has copies of the results from all the polling centres and will be able to verify if what is published by the commission corresponds to 20,000 individual results.

The result is expected to be extremely close - testament to the fact these are the first open democratic elections the country has seen in 50 years since independence.

The two candidates represent the two sides of the north-south divide that exists religiously, culturally and administratively, with the northern half still controlled in part by New Forces soldiers who took part in the 2002 rebellion, our reporter says.

The New Forces have officially joined the government in a power-sharing deal.

The elections have been cancelled six times in the past five years.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Ghana: Making Sense of our Democracy

The status of Ghana as an emerging democracy has been acknowledged the world over. The opposition New Patriotic Party’s unprecedented flagbearership election on August 7, 2010 that saw the re-election of Nana Akuffo Addo as the party’s candidate for the 2012 elections has added a new and positive dimension to the credentials of Ghana as the pacesetter of Africa politics. It is fair to say that Ghana’s current democracy which begun in 1992 has come with peace and stability that has made Ghana the darling of her neighbours and the international community. The recent outstanding performance of the Black Stars in the 2010 Fifa world cup in South Africa has added momentum to the worldwide view that Ghana is on the path of greatness.

The essence of democracy is to elect leaders who will manage the country to provide security, energy, housing, education, transport, health and telecommunication infrastructures that the citizens can take advantage of to improve their living conditions. Many who have engaged in the democratic process in Ghana have done so with the hope that democracy will usher in not only liberty, rule of law, political stability, freedom of speech and assembly but also economic prosperity. But the people who have been ruling Ghana since the day the Fourth Republican Constitution came into force seem to have forgotten this simple meaning of democracy.

More than seventeen years since the first ballot was cast and 53 years after independence the life of many Ghanaians has stagnated if not retrogressed to pre-independence levels. A critical look at the economic situation of the people suggests that the stability and peace that democracy has brought the nation has not translated into economic and social development. The various governments that have governed Ghana since 1992 have not been able to take advantage of the peace and stability to formulate and implement the necessary policies needed to transform Ghana’s economy to enable Ghanaians benefit directly. A critical look at the country’s sectors: education, energy, transportation, health and waste management reveal a state of organised disorder.

The CIA’s 2010 world ranking of countries with higher life expectancy puts Ghana at 186^th position (60.55 years) out of the 224 countries polled. Today two-thirds of the population still live on two dollars a day. The inequality and the poverty gap between those who govern and the governed is widening every year. This is evidenced in the number of people working as street vendors including children who work as head potters in our cities instead of going to school and the high number of children being trafficked to work in various parts of the country. There is a sense of anger and frustration among the populace as is indicated by the growing number of unruly behaviour of the so called foot soldiers of the NDC youth with their incessant seizing of public toilets, locking up National Health Insurance Service and National Youth Employment Programme offices and constant calling of District Chief Executives to be fired. These activities suggest that the people are not benefiting from our democracy and are getting increasingly disillusioned, a situation that can easily be nurtured to cause political instability in the country.

The only people who seem to have benefited from our democracy are the politicians who go home every four years with fat ex-gratia payments while majority of the people live in squalid conditions. Take E. T. Mensah for example. Since 1992 he has been representing Ningo Prampram as an MP and going home with ex-gratia every four years while many people in his constituency can neither read nor write and lack the basic necessities of life including water, electricity and housing.

The expensive and cosy sport utility vehicles (Land Cruisers etc) that has come to represent the taste of NDC and NPP politicians do not reflect the harsh economic life being experienced by majority of the people especially those in the rural areas who live in mud houses roofed with raffia and bamboo leafs and without water and electricity. This is unacceptable and is very dangerous for the continuous existence of democracy itself. People cannot continue to cast their votes every four years and continue to live in the same pre-independence conditions without jobs, proper housing, electricity, roads, farming equipments and access to water and sanitation. People cannot vote every four years while they continue to live on two dollars a day. That is slavery, not democracy. Democracy must come with liberty, economic empowerment, social development and improvement in the overall quality of life of the people. This has not happened in Ghana more than seventeen years of democratic governance and over fifty years of self rule.

Slowly we are missing the opportunity to develop as a nation and to add quality and value to the lives of our people. Despite promises of a better Ghana and jobs for the youth nothing seems to have changed, courtesy the politicians who are trapped in their narrow view of state management and who are going round the circle unable to work out a solution for the nation’s many problems. Slowly many of the people who have placed so much hope in democracy are being betrayed not by democracy as a system but by those elected to lead them to economic freedom. This cannot continue forever.

The people who vote must have something to live up to if they can continue to support the democratic efforts of the state. Therefore, the promises and pledges that characterise our elections must be transformed into actions and deeds. The broken promises and the politics of the same on the part of those who govern must stop before apathy sets in. Those who rule Ghana must recognise that their performance is not measured by what they say but what they do. Therefore we must act now and make good use of our peace, stability and democracy if we want to avoid any cataclysmic political upheaval in future.

In light of the abysmal economic performance of the nation and her inability to reduce poverty, I strongly believe Ghana needs strategic counselling and I want to offer my suggestions here.

First of all, Ghanaians need strategic leaders with the ability to vision and ability to bring the vision into reality; leaders who can turn aspiration into reality and inspire the people to great heights and help build a new Ghana that all of us can be proud of. Those who manage state institutions must be strategic thinkers who can formulate good policies and implement them to bring positive change. The begging mentality (i.e. the focus on aid as a development model) that continues to permeate those who live in the Osu Castle must give way to a more ingenious ways of state management that has as its focus the attraction of foreign investment, promotion of trade, support for indigenous producers, farmers, the promotion of local entrepreneurial development and the building, renovating and expanding the economic and social infrastructures in the country i.e. energy, roads, rail lines, harbours, telecommunication, silos, canals, schools and hospitals. It is unacceptable that while other nations are going outer-space to discover new planets we are still struggling to feed ourselves. Therefore the politics that has come to define our education (3 years for NDC, 4 year for NPP) must give way to a non-partisan approach to problem solving.

Secondly, evidence from Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and China has shown that a country’s economic growth, human development and her ability to reduce poverty are dependent on her technological development. Therefore, if we are to make sense of our 53 years of independence and over seventeen years of democracy; if we are to take advantage of the current favourable political climate and make it a force for good and a force for development, then a ground work for export-driven industrial economy must be laid through the adoption of a comprehensive export-driven industrial strategy. Such a strategy must make the development and acquisition of advanced technologies a priority so as to take advantage of the huge unexploited natural resources in the country, to increase production, and create wealth for the people. Why should our child-bearing women continue to carry their children on their back in this African heat when we can adopt technology to build pushchairs/prams for them? Why should we continue to wash our cloths with our hands when we could adopt the technology to build washers to save us precious time? Why should we continue to sleep in darkness when we could adopt the technology to convert solar energy into electricity? Why should our farmers continue to farm with cutlasses and hoes when we could adopt advanced farming technologies to increase yield and reduce hunger and poverty in the country? And why should we continue to carry things on our head when we could use technology to do it?

China and India’s development of their own technologies and their acquisition of technologies from the West has shown that it is possible to move hundreds of millions of people from poverty through technology acquisition. I believe that nations that turn away from the development and use of science and technology are bound to remain primitive and face extinction, and even if those nations survive extinction they will probably remain slave to others with superior technologies. Ghana cannot afford to remain technologically backward while our independence peers in Asia are moving forward scientifically and technologically and the earlier the policy-makers in Ghana look into technology acquisition the better.

Added to the above point is the fact that Ghana cannot continue to depend on the export of some few raw materials while the population continues to increase almost exponentially. Ghana cannot remain agrarian if we are to solve the teeming unemployment problem, eradicate poverty, hunger, malnutrition, malaria and improve the overall quality of life in the country. The policymakers must device ingenious schemes and work assiduously to diversify Ghana’s economy by shifting emphasis from the current reliance on raw material export to manufacturing, service, and knowledge based economy. The diversification of the economy will not only help the nation expand her revenue base but will also lead to increased production, create more jobs and protect the country from the shocks that always threaten the vivacity of our economy.

Lastly, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning must be told in plain language that lowering inflation alone will not meet the aspirations of unemployed Ghanaians who are looking for jobs. The National Development Planning Commission and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning must live up to their names and build some credibility for themselves as institutions tasked with planning the nation’s development. Ghana deserves better fiscal policies/financial management than it has been offered by Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. These institutions must think strategically and device strategies with inbuilt policy priorities to stabilise the nation’s financial market, revive the defunct firms, create jobs and put money in the pockets of the people.

I want to conclude by saying that if Ghanaians are to make sense of democracy, cherish its values and ideals; if indeed democracy is to thrive in Ghana, and if Ghana is to continue to serve as the guiding light for the rest of Africa, then more must be done to improve the economic well-being of the people, for democracy without economic and social development is a catalyst for chaos.

By Lord Aikins Adusei*

*The author is a political activist and anti corruption campaigner. His e-mail is politicalthinker1@yahoo.com

Friday, July 23, 2010

Under fire Paul Kagame speaks out

Posted on Tuesday 20 July 2010 - 16:39
Watyekele Sezi, AfricaNews reporter in Jinja, Uganda
President Paul Kagame of Rwanda has launched his campaign for the August 9 polls and promised free elections despite attacks, assassinations and arrests on the opposition. Human rights groups have also berated him for not protecting lives of innocent ones ahead of the tensed voting.
"Rwandan voters have the freedom to decide," Kagame told his Rwandan Patriotic Front supporters at a rally at the Kigali national stadium.

The rally was estimated to cost $2 million. However, campaign co-coordinator Christophe Bazivamo said the funding was supplied by "voluntary contributions".

The more modest Social Democratic Party of Deputy Speaker Jean-Damascene Ntawukuriryayo is planning to take out a bank loan.

Two other presidential challengers – the Liberal Party's Prosper Higiro and the Party of Progress and Concord's Alvera Mukabaramba – will also be campaigning on low budgets.

Those three parties supported Kagame during the 2003 presidential election and are described by the opposition as the RPF's "political satellites".

But the three main opposition parties that had planned to contest the election are already practically sidelined.

The Unified Democratic Forces has not been officially registered by the authorities and its leader, Victoire Ingabire, has faced legal action since April after being accused of negating the genocide and abetting terrorism.

The Social Party (Imberakuri) faces similar problems and its leader Bernard Ntaganda has been behind bars since June 24.

In another development, Andre Kagwa Rwisereka – vice chairperson of the unregistered opposition Democratic Green Party – was found dead, nearly decapitated, on July 14.

Several senior army officers have been arrested in recent months and one general, Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, narrowly survived an assassination attempt in exile in South Africa.

An opposition journalist who claimed to have uncovered the regime's responsibility in the attempted murder was shot dead days later.

Kagame's government has flatly denied any involvement in the killings.

"There have been all kinds of activities... which have been orchestrated in order to instill a climate of fear in the run-up to the elections but also in an attempt to smear the government," Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo told AFP in a recent interview.

Restricting political and press freedom

Rights groups have repeatedly accused Rwanda of restricting political and press freedom ahead of the election.

Kagame has often been praised by Western countries for his economic vision and his ability to maintain stability in genocide-scarred Rwanda but the latest outbreak of political violence appeared to cause some unease.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon "expressed his concerns regarding the recent incidents which have caused political tensions" and demanded a full investigation into the death of the journalist and Rwisereka's murder.

Ban's statement came last week in Madrid, where Kagame was invited to talk on the status of the Millennium Development Goals.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero opted out of a meeting with Kagame at the last minute following protests from some political parties over the Rwandan president's role in the genocide.

Gambia: President Jammeh attacked

Posted on Thursday 22 July 2010 - 12:07
Kemo Cham, AfricaNews reporter in Dakar, Senegal
The Dakar-based African Assembly for the Defense of Human Rights has attacked Gambian president Yahya Jammeh for poor human rights and democracy record.
"Since the accession of Captain Yahya Jammeh to power in 1994, the state of democracy and human rights in the Gambia continues to deteriorate," the organization said in a statement in response to the recent conviction and sentencing to death of eight Gambians.

The convicts include former chief of Defense Staff of the Gambia Armed Forces, Lt. General Lang Tombong Tamba.

“Since taking office more than two hundred (200) coups have been identified in a country where everything has been clocked and where there is intimidation and terror that spares no political actors (opposition and ruling party),” the statement said.

It added: "Currently, many people are detained without charge or illegally imprisoned after unfair trials. Most of them are victims of torture or other ill-treatment."

The organization called on President Yahya Jammeh to respect his obligations vis-à-vis the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights.

In Nigeria, Northern Politicians Offer Conditional Support for President Jonathan

Chinedu Offor | Washington DC July 2010

In Nigeria, northern politicians have offered to support President Goodluck Jonathan in next year’s elections if he promises not to seek re-election. Analysts say the compromise offer is the strongest indication yet that Mr. Jonathan is the leading candidate of the ruling People’s Democratic Party.

But the compromise is not a significant political development, says Abubakar Momoh, a lecturer at the Department of Political Science Lagos State University.

“It’s just [a] political calculation and strategizing by some elite who think they just have to be politically relevant. The first question to ask is on whose behalf [is] this olive branch [being extended].”

Momoh disagrees with speculation that the compromise is a ploy by pro-Jonathan elements to weaken the position of the North.

“I don’t really believe that some of the names that are being peddled around are really the ones to determine ultimately how electorates in the north will vote. And the electorate in this area is not gullible, it is informed and it knows what is going on. It will vote on the basis of what is on ground, the issues and questions about who is credible and so on. They are going to make a rational choice on the basis of what they are offered.”

The deal offered to the Nigerian leader, says Momoh, is intended to push one part of the country against the other and will be rejected by the electorate

Zimbabwe's Coalition Parties Meet in Rare Talks

Peta Thornycroft | JohannesburgJuly 2010

Photo: AP

President Robert Mugabe, centre, shares a light moment with Morgan Tsvangirai, left, Zimbabwe's Prime Minister and his Deputy, Arthur Mutambara after giving their end of year message to the nation, at Zimbabwe House in Harare, Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2009

For the first time Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party's politburo and the national executive committees of the two Movement for Democratic Change parties met on Wednesday to discuss ways to ensure that political violence ends in Zimbabwe.

The meeting in Harare was the first time the three parties' national executives have met since a unity government was formed 17 months ago.

Following the establishment of the unity government, a multi-party Committee for National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration was formed to try to heal some of the scars of political violence since Zimbabwe's independence from the United Kingdom in 1980.

The healing committee has traveled to several regions of the country to persuade victims and perpetrators to face one another and tell their stories.

More than 100 delegates from the three parties agreed by consensus that there could be no national healing without justice and compensation, and that the police must arrest anyone who commits violence.

MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti described the meeting as historic and said the challenge was to ensure that no Zimbabwean ever attacks or kills another on the basis of political affiliation.

Most of the political violence of the decade followed the emergence of the Movement for Democratic Change, or MDC, which came close to winning elections in 2000.

Domestic and international human rights monitoring groups, such as Human Rights Watch, say that President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF party has been responsible for most of the political violence since independence.

Although rights monitors say political violence has declined significantly since the unity government came to power, the MDC says some of its members, particularly in rural areas, are still being attacked.

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