Fresh evidence has emerged of yet another plot by the
United States to fund opposition-linked civil society organisations to
destabilise the country through sustained civil unrest.
The Sunday Mail has gathered that the US Embassy in Harare
has slated a workshop in the capital between
December 2 and 10 to train subversive civil society organisations on
strategies of sustaining demonstrations.
An organisation dubbed Frontline Defenders is facilitating
the workshop in conjunction with the US Embassy.
The agenda of the workshop includes training civil society
organisations on “ways to sustain demonstrations” and how to outsmart the
police.
This strategy is a change in tact as recent opposition
demonstrations, such as last week’s illegal Hope of the Nation Address (HONA)
by MDC- Alliance leader, Nelson Chamisa, have been swiftly dealt with by the
police.
Sources told The Sunday Mail that the timing of the meeting
was also planned to coincide with the visit by United Nations Human Rights
Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Ms Hilal Elver, who is currently in
the country.
The sources said: “The Frontline Defenders is planning a
workshop with the aim of training subversive civil society organisations on
ways of sustaining demonstrations.
“The US Embassy is planning this workshop and is intending
to host it at the Embassy’s Chancery.”
The US Embassy in Harare did not respond to questions send
by The Sunday Mail.
An official from the embassy, Mr Wezani Siza, promised that
the US would respond, but they had not done so by late yesterday.
Last week, the UN said Ms Elver will carry out a
fact-finding visit to Zimbabwe from November 18 to 28, 2019. In a statement, Mr
Elver confirmed her visit to the country.
“The objective of my visit is to engage in constructive
discussions to identify good practices as well as challenges to the enjoyment
of the right to food in Zimbabwe, and provide useful recommendations to the
Government and others,” read the statement in part.
“I will consider the increased challenges posed by the
economic crisis, as well as the role of the private sector, the impact of
climate change, natural disasters and drought on food security and people’s
livelihoods, and the issues related to nutrition and food quality in both urban
and rural areas.”
Ms Elver’s visit to the country is the first by an
independent expert on the right to food.
The Special Rapporteur will visit Harare as well as rural
areas most affected by the El Nino-induced drought. She will meet Government
officials, independent institutions, representatives from the UN system, the
international donor community, civil society organisations and local
communities.
She concludes her visit on November 28, but her final
report will be presented to the Human Rights Council in Geneva in March 2020.
Groups of shady organisations from Zimbabwe with links to
the opposition MDC-Alliance have in recent months been hard at work laying the
groundwork for civil unrest and planning new tactics against the police, who
have been extensively trained to deal with such threats.
Last week, police dispersed dozens of MDC-Alliance
supporters that gathered at the party’s Harvest House headquarters in Harare,
as the gathering had not been sanctioned. Sunday Mail
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