NO GUNS FOR ZIM: THE COALITION

The global effort to prevent weapons from reaching Zimbabwe during the current crisis is led by Southern African trade unions, NGOs, and church organisations, with support from global civil society--including Avaaz, Oxfam, Amnesty International, and IANSA. This page is for organisations to sign; individuals should sign the petition on this page. If your organisation would like to formally join the effort, please fill out the form below.

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has issued the following public statement at 1300 Thursday 24th April:
Zimbabwe is staring into the abyss. Violence is growing and the people are suffering greatly as a result. It is now vital that we all do what we can to calm the situation.

In particular I join the worldwide calls to stop the supply of weapons to the country--by land, sea or air--until the political crisis is resolved. It is obvious that supplying large quantities of arms at this stage would risk escalating the violence, perhaps resulting in the large-scale loss of life. We should be proud of the African Trade Unions and governments who refused to let the most recent Chinese shipment off-load in their ports but China must now agree not to try and send these arms by air instead.

I join the South African church leaders in urging all governments to immediately start work at the UN level to agree a binding UN arms embargo as quickly as possible. In the meantime I hope that every country will agree to a moratorium on the supply of any arms to the country.

If violence flares further in Zimbabwe, those supplying the weapons will be left with blood on their hands. It is up to every country in the region and beyond to take a stand.


 
Civil society sign-on letter to the leaders of the Southern African Development Community:

The Chinese vessel "An Yue Jiang," currently in the seas off Southern Africa is carrying a deadly load of 77 tonnes of arms, including three million rounds of ammunition, 1500 rocket-propelled grenades and 3000 mortars bombs, bound for Zimbabwe.

We call on you to condemn the shipment of arms from China to Zimbabwe, and to support all efforts, including recent calls for a UN arms embargo to prevent this and any other weapons shipments from reaching Zimbabwe: be it via air, sea, rail or road. SADC airspace should be monitored in case Zimbabwe attempt to fly in weapons direct from China. Should the “An Yue Jiang” arrive in a SADC port, the weapons should be offloaded and impounded. Only this will guarantee that they will not reach Zimbabwe and be used to exacerbate the current violence.

On Thursday 10 April, the ship docked in Durban, but left the port after dockworkers refused to unload it, and a coalition of civil society groups and lawyers succeeded in blocking the cargo from being taken overland to Zimbabwe. The ship is now making its way around the Southern African coast and is believed to be attempting to identify another port at which to unload its lethal cargo. It should be noted that it left Durban in violation of a court order issued by Judge Pillay at the High Court of Durban on Friday 18 April.

We believe that, if delivered, these weapons are likely be used to violate human rights, and fuel conflict and instability.

The SADC Firearms Protocol, adopted in 2004 commits the community to promote and facilitate regional cooperation to prevent the excessive and destabilising possession and use of firearms and ammunition. The risks that this shipment poses to the human rights of the people of Zimbabwe also highlight the urgent need for a strong, global Arms Trade Treaty, based on human rights and international law, to effectively control the international trade in weapons.

The campaign to stop this ship reaching Zimbabwe has been led by ordinary citizens and African trade unionists. Regional and international leaders must now support them, and act immediately to protect human rights.

Organisations only: sign on the letter

 
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213 organisations have have signed on to this letter. Help us get to 150

 
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