Even after the disputed Presidential election run-off and subsequent swearing in of the ZANU PF candidate Robert Mugabe as the President of Zimbabwe, violence and political intolerance continued in the month of July in most parts of Zimbabwe.
The scale of violations was lower than in the previous months up to April 2008. However, ZANU PF militias launched “operation red finger”, a campaign against non-voters, who were alleged to not go to vote in order to protest the one-man election of Robert Mugabe. In “operation red finger” these non-voters were subjected to violent attacks.
Moreover, election observers who discontinued their work were also targets of attacks. In addition to that, there is evidence that some of the torture bases that were set up prior to the 27 June run-off remained in operation afterwards.
On 21 July a memorandum of understanding was signed that was giving some hope for political parties to end the impasse in between them. It remained questionable, however, it was going to be successful in that regard. The Forum calls upon all parties to honour their commitments and take steps to find a solution for the ongoing crisis in Zimbabwe.
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