UN to tell Zimbabwe to halt demolitions

UNITED NATIONS - A crucial UN report accuses the Zimbabwean government of a disastrous policy in demolishing urban slums and calls on it to stop razing the shantytowns, according to those who have seen the document, to be released later today.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan promised Security Council members last week that the report would "pull no punches" and the final version will condemn the demolitions as a wrongful crackdown that has affected some 2 million people, the envoys said.

Human rights groups, the Commonwealth, European Union, Britain and the United States have condemned the demolitions, which have left countless people homeless in the depth of the southern Hemisphere winter.

The government has dismissed the accusations and says the crackdown, officially dubbed Operation Restore Order, was intended to fight black market trading and other lawlessness in unplanned communities which had sprung up around the country.

The government of President Robert Mugabe has received a copy of the report and is expected to give its response.

The report was prepared by Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, the executive director of the Nairobi-based Human Settlements Programme, known as UN-Habitat, whose main objective is improving the lives of slum dwellers.

Tibaijuka, a Tanzanian professor with a doctorate in agricultural economics, was sent to Zimbabwe by Annan and spent two weeks touring the country, leaving on July 9.

Despite pressure from Britain and the United States, the 15-member Security Council has not drawn attention to the Zimbabwean crisis, with several nations refusing to put the issue on the council's agenda. The African Union has also been silent and Annan last week issued a brief statement of concern.

But the secretary-general is expected to use the report by Tibaijuka to highlight the crisis and Western nations are expect to renew calls that the Security Council or the UN General Assembly deal with the demolitions.

- REUTERS