Amnesty International says Zimbabwe's upcoming parliamentary elections will not be free and fair -- because the government of Zimbabwe continues to use threats and intimidation against opposition supporters.
Samkelo Mokhine is the chairman for Amnesty International in Johannesburg, South Africa. He told English to Africa reporter William Eagle that his group is offering several suggestions to improve the conduct of the elections. One is to train monitors how to look for human rights violations, such as withholding access to food. Another is to watch for attacks on all parties before, during and after the polls. Amnesty says any violations should then be publicly denounced and reported to authorities. The group says monitors should also have access to all sectors of the population – since many violations occur far away from polling stations.