Report leaked
The UN report on the cleanup operation was apparently leaked to AP last night. A report by NICK WADHAMS chronicles the following excerpts from the report scheduled to be made public later on today;
"While purporting to target illegal dwellings and structures and to clamp down on alleged illicit activities, (the operation) was carried out in an indiscriminate and unjustified manner, with indifference to human suffering,"
"Even if motivated by a desire to ensure a semblance of order in the chaotic manifestations of rapid urbanization and rising poverty characteristic of African cities, nonetheless Operation Restore Order turned out to be a disastrous venture,"
"The humanitarian consequences of Operation Restore Order are enormous,"
"They had elderly folk, and they were piling them onto vehicles; they were frog-marching children ... who had been asleep, and Bulawayo is very cold at the moment."
The report was given to the Zimbabwean government on Wednesday. They've had 48 hours to respond publicly to it before the UN makes it public but in classic ZANU-PF style, Zimbabwe's permanent represtantive to the UN brazenly dismissed the 48 hour deadline as useless.
Zimbabwe, Cleanup Operation,
"While purporting to target illegal dwellings and structures and to clamp down on alleged illicit activities, (the operation) was carried out in an indiscriminate and unjustified manner, with indifference to human suffering,"
"Even if motivated by a desire to ensure a semblance of order in the chaotic manifestations of rapid urbanization and rising poverty characteristic of African cities, nonetheless Operation Restore Order turned out to be a disastrous venture,"
"The humanitarian consequences of Operation Restore Order are enormous,"
"They had elderly folk, and they were piling them onto vehicles; they were frog-marching children ... who had been asleep, and Bulawayo is very cold at the moment."
The report was given to the Zimbabwean government on Wednesday. They've had 48 hours to respond publicly to it before the UN makes it public but in classic ZANU-PF style, Zimbabwe's permanent represtantive to the UN brazenly dismissed the 48 hour deadline as useless.
Zimbabwe, Cleanup Operation,
