OAU Endorses Mugabe's Rejection of Foreign Observers
Posted: Sunday, February 17, 2002

South African Press Association (Johannesburg)
February 15, 2002
Posted to the web February 16, 2002

Lusaka

Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Secretary General Amara Essy on Friday endorsed Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's rejection of foreign election observer teams, saying western countries do not invite African states to monitor elections in their countries.

A Sapa correspondent reported from Zambia that Essy told journalists at Lusaka's international airport that elections were an internal affair of any sovereign state and must be respected.

"I am not happy to see observers from outside. They do not ask or invite us to go to the (United States) or Europe to monitor elections there, or to check whether their elections were free and fair," Essy said.

He said that the western countries should not force themselves to monitor elections in other countries.

"I hope this will not continue in the next decade," he chided.

Essy said that Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa had acted within reason when he rejected the European Union (EU) report on his country's December 27, 2001 general polls.

An EU election observer mission said that the poll results announced as official by the Electoral Commission of Zambia were not true and did not represent the true wishes of the Zambian people.

Both the EU mission and the US-based Carter Centre have expressed grave concern over the legitimacy of the Mwanawasa government, while Britain, jointly with the US, has spearheaded political and economic sanctions against Mugabe's government.

The Zambian government has since accused the EU observer team of creating despondency and interfering in the country's internal affairs. Relations between the two have soured.

Essy confirmed that the Zimbabwean government had formally invited the continental body to monitor presidential polls in that country next month. He said the OAU observer team would be headed by former Liberian president Amassou Yere.

Essy was in Zambia for a one day visit and would hold talks with Mwanawasa, the current OAU chairperson, on among other things, the various conflict spots on the continent and the transition process of the OAU into the African Union.

Reprinted from:
http://allafrica.com/stories/200202160072.html 

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