By Own Correspondent| Former United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan has added his voice on the ongoing violence in the country calling on the perpetrators of this violence to guarantee citizens a peaceful transition to democracy.
Annan, who was in the country from July 19 to 21 2018 where he led a delegation of “The Elders” including Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Lakhdar Brahimi, former Foreign Minister of Algeria and UN diplomat said violence was completely unacceptable calling on “those responsible to step back from the brink and give the people of Zimbabwe the opportunity of a peaceful transition”.
Said Annan:
The scenes of violence in parts of the country are completely unacceptable. We call on all those responsible to step back from the brink and give the people of #Zimbabwe the opportunity of a peaceful transition to #democracy. https://t.co/INVpMIKpyY #ZimElections2018 pic.twitter.com/oCQake7GhA
— Kofi Annan (@KofiAnnan) August 3, 2018
Citizens however took to Twitter castigating Annan for failing to name the perpetrators of the violence which rocked Harare describing him as a “biased” man.
Below are some of the responses to his tweet:
Who are “those responsible “?
Nowonder why Africa didn’t even get a fair share of the UN security council,when you were Secretary General.
You believe in maintaining the status quo ,rathe than speaking the truth
What a selfish,wretched group of African leaders we have!— Facts Are Stubborn (@ChiefGuvson) August 3, 2018
Useless old man and women. Useless. If indeed zanu pf had a majority and won fairly thn Kofi pliz explain to us why they are no wild Celebrations in the country? The reason is zanu pf is not loved by any progressive thinking Zimbabwean. Elders have sold us
— Simba (@simbarashe1982) August 3, 2018
https://twitter.com/jinjika_farai/status/1025290575564754944?s=19
It’s people like you who incite violence and anger among citizens of nations by just not acknowledging flaws and human rights abuse . You did the same with Mugabe and we patiently waited for you to see we were suffering but you chose to be blind to our plight .
— King (@Wakanda_Dlozi) August 3, 2018
Sir, unfortunately you and Thabo Mbeki, you are now in the same bracket for us:
Thabo Mbeki (2008): 'There is no crisis in Zimbabwe, later on…the records are there'.
Kofi Annan (2018): you rendered our concerns as unreasonable, later on…we are here.— dee (@diangav) August 3, 2018
African leaders and the so called elders are pro-revolutionary parties. They are toothless when it comes to real concerns. The so called elders should just sit around the village fires and telling folktales.
— Professor Ngugi WaMkirii (@PWamkirii) August 3, 2018
