UN Alarmed Over 'excessive Force' In Zimbabwe Crackdown

The United Nations on Friday called on Zimbabwe to halt its crackdown on anti-government protesters, voicing alarm about security forces' "excessive use of force", including firing with live ammunition

Geneva, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Jan, 2019 ) :The United Nations on Friday called on Zimbabwe to halt its crackdown on anti-government protesters, voicing alarm about security forces' "excessive use of force", including firing with live ammunition.

"We are deeply troubled by the socioeconomic crisis that is unfolding in Zimbabwe and the repression of large scale protests in the country," Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN human rights office, told reporters in Geneva.

"We call on the government to find ways of engaging with the population about their legitimate grievances and to stop the crackdown against protesters," she said.

Nationwide demonstrations erupted in Zimbabwe on Monday after President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced that fuel prices were being doubled in a country suffering regular shortages of fuel, food and medicine.

Mnangagwa, who succeeded ousted authoritarian president Robert Mugabe in 2017, had promised a fresh start for Zimbabwe after decades of repression and economic decline.

Shamdasani said the UN rights office was "concerned about reports of the excessive use of force, including live ammunition, by Zimbabwean security forces during protests." She pointed to reports that protesters had burned tyres, used rocks to barricade roads, and blocked buses from taking passengers to work, as well as reports of buildings set on fire and looting.

"Police responded with force," she said, lamenting "credible reports of a number of deaths, including of a police officer, and many more injured.

" The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights said Thursday it had treated 68 people for serious gunshot wounds, criticising the "disproportionate response by the state apparatus" to the protests.

Shamdasani pointed to official figures showing that more than 600 people had been arrested countrywide, and voiced alarm at "worrying allegations of generalised intimidation and harassment by security forces carrying out door-to-door searches." "Among those detained are opposition leaders and prominent civil activists," she said, adding that the rights office was "also concerned that internet services have been severely disrupted in the last few days." Shamdasani said the UN was calling on the government to ensure accountability by promptly, thoroughly and transparently investigate all reports of violence, including alleged excessive use of force by security forces.

It is also urging authorities to immediately release all of those "detained for the exercise of their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression.""It is essential that all sides, including the protesters, refrain from the use of violence and seek to resolve the situation peacefully," she said.

Shamdasani called on the government to make sure that "security forces handle protests and exercise their power, especially the use of firearms and live ammunition, strictly in accordance with the country's international human rights obligations," she said.