Group calls Mugabe's actions genocide

http://www.metimes.com

Published: January 12, 2009
WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- An international group of experts on genocide
has used the term for the first time about the activities of strongman
Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe.
In a statement posted on its Web site, the International Association of
Genocide Scholars called for the U.N. Security Council to refer Mugabe to
the International Criminal Court for prosecution, ISG reported.

"Mugabe is now committing genocide by attrition," write the scholars, which
they say falls under the provision of the U.N. Genocide Convention outlawing
acts that "deliberately inflict on the group conditions of life calculated
to bring about its physical destruction, in whole or in part. Mugabe's
apparent intention is to destroy his political and ethnic enemies in
Zimbabwe," says the statement.

Founded in 1994, ISG is an international interdisciplinary scholarly
organization that seeks to further research and teaching about the nature,
causes and consequences of genocide -- and to advance studies on how to
prevent it.

Mugabe is facing growing criticism from the international community after
months of an ongoing political crisis over a power-sharing agreement signed
in September with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Zimbabwe is also facing an escalating humanitarian and economic crisis. A
cholera epidemic has claimed as many as 2,000 lives since August.