By Lesley Mugabe| US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senators Chris Coons (Democrat-Dellaware) and Jeff Flake (Republican-Arizona) on Thursday introduced a bill which makes demands for sanctions to be lifted.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been told to remove the current Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and replace it with one formed under consultation with opposition parties.
The US Senate also demanded that soldiers should be removed from the ZEC (there are currently 45 ex-soldiers working inside the ZEC).
Senator Coons, said the legislation updates the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001 and sets forth the steps Zimbabwe needs to take to have sanctions on its country lifted.
“After 37 years of suffering under the repressive rule of Robert Mugabe, the people of Zimbabwe should be excited about the possibility of a brighter future. To ensure conditions throughout the country improve, the international community should insist on concrete actions from the new government of Zimbabwe before lifting sanctions and renewing investment in the country. This bill is intended to outline the U.S. Senate’s expectations of the steps President Mnangagwa and other leaders should take,” said Senator Coons.
Part of the statement reads:
“PRE-ELECTION CONDITIONS.-The following pre-election conditions are met: “(A) Establishment and public release, without cost, in both paper and digital formats, of a biometric voter registration roll that is endorsed by all registered political parties. “(B) An independent electoral management body is selected, the members of which should be nominated by all political parties rep-resented in the parliament of Zimbabwe, and permitted to entirely carry out the functions as-signed to it in section 239 of Zimbabwe’s 2013 constitution in an entirely independent manner. “(C) The Defense Forces of Zimbabwe are neither permitted to actively participate in campaigning for any candidate nor to intimidate voters, and must verifiably and credibly uphold their constitutionally mandated duty to respect the fundamental rights and freedoms of all per-sons and be non-partisan in character.
“(D) International observers, including from the United States, the African Union, the Southern African Development Community, and the European Union are permitted to observe the entire electoral process, both prior to, on, and following voting day, including by monitoring polling stations and counting centers, and are able to independently operate in a man-ner enabling them to access and analyze vote tallying, tabulation, and the transmission and content of voting results. “(E) Candidates are allowed free and full access to state media, which must afford equal time and coverage to all registered parties, in an impartial manner, and must be able to campaign in an environment that is free from intimidation and violence. “(F) Civil society organizations must freely and independently be able to carry out voter and civic education, and to monitor the entire electoral process, including by observing, re-cording, and transmitting public-posted or announced voting results, including at the ward, constituency, and all higher levels of the vote tallying process, including through the conduct of one or more parallel vote tabulation exer-cises.”; (2) by redesignating paragraphs (3) and (5) as paragraphs (7) and (8), respectively; (3) by striking paragraph (4); (4) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol-lowing new paragraphs: “(3) PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.—Zimbabwe has held an election that is widely accepted as free, fair, and credible by independent international and domestic civil society monitors, and the president-elect is free to assume the duties of the office. “(4) UPDATING STATUTES.-Laws enacted prior to passage of Zimbabwe’s new Constitution in March 2013 that are inconsistent with the new Constitution are amended or repealed so that they are consistent with the Constitution. “(5) UPHOLDING THE CONSTITUTION.-The Secretary of State has certified that all elements of the Constitution, including devolution, are being im-plemented. “(6) ECONOMIC REFORMS.-The Government of Zimbabwe has demonstrated a sustained commit-ment to reforming Zimbabwe’s economy in ways that
will promote economic growth, address iiiiemploy-ment and underdevelopment, and restore livelihoods. “(7) DIAMOND REVENUES.—The Secretary of State has certified that a transparent and credible accounting for all diamond revenues since 2000 has taken place.”; and (5) in paragraph (7), as redesignated by para-graph (2) of this subsection, by striking “consistent with” and all that follows through “September 1998”. SEC. 7. REMOVAL OF AUTHORITY TO PAY LAND ACQUISI-TION COSTS. Section 5(a)(2) of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001 is amended by striking “, including the payment of costs” and all that follows through “thereto”. SEC. 8. INCLUSION OF AUSTRALIA IN CONSULTATIONS ABOUT ZIMBABWE. Section 6 of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001 is amended by inserting “Australia, and the United Kingdom” after “Canada,”. SEC. 9. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON PAST ATROCITIES AND HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES. It is the sense of Congress that the Government of Zimbabwe should take immediate action to—