President Emmerson Mnangagwa has called for a national dialogue with opposition parties and religious and civic leaders. Mnangagwa had been due to attend the World Economic Focum in Davos but broke off his trip to return home. Writing on Twitter – just after the country’s high court ordered the government to restore internet access – Mnangagwa said the controversial decision to raise the fuel price had not been taken lightly.
Zimbabwe’s High Court ruled on Monday that the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa had no right to shut down internet connection to parts of the country. It has ordered the immediate and full restoration of internet access, shut down in part during unrest against Mnangagwa’s administration.
Some parts of the
internet had been restored over the weekend after a shutdown last week, but
social media and messaging apps like Facebook, Whatsapp, and Twitter remained
blocked.
The capital Harare was
slowly returning to normal on Monday after weeks of protests over a massive
increase in the price of fuel, making gasoline more expensive in Zimbabwe than
anywhere else on earth. Government officials have said that 12 people were killed
in clashes between demonstrators and police, but NGOs have put the death toll
higher.
Hundreds arrested in brutal crackdown
More than 600 people
have been arrested, including high-profile opposition figures like trade union
leader Japhet Moyo, who was charged with subversion on Monday for his role in
organizing a general strike last week.
President Mnangagwa
has announced that he will cut short his international trip, skipping the World
Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He is currently in Kazakhstan and had
been visiting Russia when the violence erupted last week.
Mnangagwa’s government
has been criticized by the UN for its “excessive use of force” in
cracking down on the unrest. Although many hoped that Mnangagwa, an
ally-turned-critic of former strongman Robert Mugabe, would change the culture
of authoritarianism in Zimbabwe, these hopes have been dashed in recent weeks.
Speaking at the
funeral of Tinashe Choto, a young footballer who was shot in the head at
protests, the leader of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change
party, Nelson Chamisa, said “this is a sick government because no serious
government will deploy military and live ammunition against ordinary
citizens.”
Source : AP,
AFP, Reuters
