Beyond the Elections in Zimbabwe Pt 1*: Democratic Institutions

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Dewa Mahvinga, Human Rights Watch, Irene Petras, Jabusile Shumba, Jenni Williams, NED, Robert Mugabe, Simon Khaya Moyo, WOZA Zimbabwe, ZANU-PF, Zimbabwe elections, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights

*I will publish part 2 tomorrow on the comments of Shannon Smith, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.  I took great exception to her diplomatic speak, so please indulge my venting in a dedicated post.

Alas, work commitments today meant that I missed most of the ‘Beyond the Elections in Zimbabwe‘ conference convened at the National Endowment for Democracy and co-sponsored by a variety of local organizations.

I arrived late, in the middle of the 2nd panel, and had to leave early (fortunately, I still got a delicious lunch).  This meant that I missed the first panel, on civil society, which was what I most wanted to hear.  Fortunately,

The Senate Gets Curious About Developments in Zimbabwe – Pt. 1

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Chris Coons, Dewa Mahvinga, Jeff Flake, Mark Schneider, MDC Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, SADC election monitors, Subcommittee on African Affairs, Todd Moss, ZANU-PF, Zimbabwe elections, Zimbabwe security sector reform

On Tuesday morning, after attending Rep. Karen Bass’ Africa Policy Breakfast Series, I headed over to the Dirksen Senate Building for my first Congressional hearing, Examining Prospects for Democratic Reform and Economic Recovery in Zimbabwe.  The title aside, the hearing was primarily an inquiry into Zimbabwe’s upcoming elections.  Two members of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations’ Subcommittee on African Affairs presided over the hearing.  Chris Coons (D – DE, he apparently studied in Kenya as an undergrad), the Committee Chair took the lead with support from Jeff Flake (R – AZ).  Flake had spent time in Zimbabwe in 1982 – 83 as a Mormon missionary.  His Wikipedia page says that he speaks Afrikaans and opposed sanctions on South Africa in the 1980s.  He was also Executive Director of the Foundation for Democracy in Namibia (no idea what that is).

The session consisted of two panels, one with prominent US government officials (State and USAID) and another with key civil society Zimbabwe watchers (in that order).  I’ll discuss the latter panel here and will cover the first panel in a post on Thursday.