A senior member of the Zimbabwean opposition says his party will pull out of talks with Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party, if they fail to reach an agreement to re-run last month's presidential elections within four weeks of negotiations. Tendai Biti, a spokesman on foreign affairs for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) told Tim Sebastian for BBC HARDtalk that his party would call off negotiations with the Zimbabwe Government if the matter was not addressed.

EU foreign ministers have beefed up their sanctions against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his government to include a ban on bilateral ministerial contacts "until further notice". In a statement, they expressed "deep concern at reports of continuing politically motivated violence against opposition supporters" by Mugabe's governing Zanu PF party.

Today, more than a month after the presidential election, Nyasha Chinhamo (not her real name) chokes as she recounts how vicious youths supposed to be campaigning for Zanu PF raped her. "If only someone can explain to me how raping someone would enhance a party's chances of winning an election then I may understand," said the 55-year-old Chinhamo.

President Robert Mugabe's government gave notice on Tuesday that it would ignore court orders that restrained police in security issues, according to state radio.

The editor of Zimbabwe's only private daily newspaper has been arrested after publishing a story that last month's election results were falsified, his lawyer said.

Barely two months after President Robert Mugabe assured the nation that noone would starve, thousands of villages in Matabeleland's two provinces are going for days without meals, it has emerged.

In its latest report covering the period 25-31 March 2002, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum said it was was worrying that incidents of torture which started in early 2000 continued unabated, even after the country's controversial presidential election.

On Tuesday 2 April 2002, Peta Thornycroft, the Zimbabwe correspondent for the British "Daily Telegraph", was questioned on the status of her citizenship in the continuing saga following her arrest on Wednesday 27 March.

Hundreds of Amnesty International’s members in Southern Africa have called on African leaders in general and Southern African Development Community (SADC) diplomats in particular to seize every opportunity to protect the rights of citizens in Zimbabwe. Current discussions on Zimbabwe at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights provide the perfect opportunity at the highest of international fora.

Joseph Mwale, a Central Intelligence Officer accused of killing MDC activists Tichaona Chiminya and Talent Mabika in Buhera during the June 2000 parliamentary elections campaign, is reportedly spearheading retributions on MDC supporters in Chimanimani.

A total of 64 pro-democracy protesters arrested on Saturday when violent police action crushed anti-government demonstrations around the country were still in jail on Sunday and were being denied legal access, lawyers said.

Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Sunday that his party would not co-operate with the government of President Robert Mugabe, which he described as a "military junta." We cannot be expected to co-operate with such a regime," he said. "If they don't want to talk about new elections, then there is no need to even start negotiations," said Tsvangirai.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard has told President Thabo Mbeki and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo that Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the recent presidential election, but that hundreds of thousands of votes were shifted to change the result after the votes had been counted.

Abuse in school is a difficult area to research associated as it is with sexual abuse, a taboo topic which most people would prefer to ignore. This is as true of countries in sub-Saharan Africa, where abuse in schools is only just being acknowledged, as anywhere else. But what can be done to stamp it out?

State-sponsored militia are continuing to carry out assaults and acts of sexual violence in reprisals against the opposition. Militias are also controlling the distribution of food supplies in rural areas and it is feared that this is systematically being used as a tool of repression against opposition supporters.

Human rights group Zimbabwe in Crisis appealed for urgent assistance on Friday for at least 50,000 people who it says have been displaced by political violence and land seizures. "We are dealing with a humanitarian crisis and are asking organisations like the United Nations and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees to help," said spokesman Kumbirai Hodzi.

Rejected by the Commonwealth and abandoned by his peers, despised in his capital and banned from most of the developed world, it is just possible that President Mugabe, may now be starting to realise the price of victory in last month's disputed presidential poll.

March 19, 2002: The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) would like to reemphasize that the general workforce in Zimbabwe are naturally disappointed about what happened on the 14th of March where the General Council meeting was disrupted by the police. This is despite past experience when the General Council held its meetings without the interference of the police in line with the principles of freedom of association enshrined in various international human rights instruments to which Zimbabwe is signatory. These instruments include The UN Declaration of Human Rights, The UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, The UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and the International Labour Organisation Conventions on Freedom of Association and the Right to organise. It is therefore disturbing that the state would now want to be part and parcel of ZCTU meetings, which is a serious breach of the ZCTU's freedom to hold its meetings.

The state argued that the meeting was a political one and that it was therefore illegal. This was purportedly in terms of the notorious Public Order and Security Act [Chapter 11: 17] (POSA). In light of the above, The ZCTU categorically denounces the use of draconian legislation to interfere with the running of affairs of trade unions in this country, especially following the announcement by government that they are going to derecognise the ZCTU.

The ZCTU is determined to make sure that the workers interests in these difficult times are taken care of regardless of the intimidation and state interference. Meanwhile, the ZCTU's national and international partners are being briefed on these latest developments

It has also come to the attention of the ZCTU that workers are being unnecessarily beaten and harassed by state agents, a development which the ZCTU strongly condemns.

The ZCTU therefore calls on all workers to stayaway from their workplaces on Wednesday the 20th to Friday the 22nd March, 2002 in protest against:
* the state's disregard for trade union freedoms.
* an attempt by the state to weaken the ZCTU and therefore expose the workers to unchallenged victimization
* the harassment, beatings and displacement workers are experiencing in the aftermath of the Presidential elections
* general lawlessness which will actually influence company closures and loss of jobs.

Zimbabwe's Commonwealth membership has been suspended for 12 months with immediate effect after the troika of Commonwealth leaders responsible for delivering a verdict on the country's violent presidential election confounded their critics.

Zimbabwe's main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has been summoned to court to hear charges formally accusing him of treason, his aides say.