As Zimbabwe’s political climate remains uncertain, Amnesty International has asked the Zimbabwean military to ensure the safety and security of all people in Zimbabwe, regardless of their political allegiance and to refrain from any actions that disregards respect for human rights. This following the house arrest of President Mugabe by the military this week, with reports of a possible transitional government taking over power.

Speaking to VOC, researcher at Amnesty International Southern Africa, Lloyd Kuveya said the human rights organisation’s call for the safe-guarding of citizens is based on its experience of military takeovers that place an expected risk on ordinary citizens.

Describing the current situation in Zimbabwe as a “bloodless coup” with no killing of citizens, he said that thus far, only senior government officials who are expected of corruption have been arrested.

Amnesty’s main concern is to ensure that basic rights are respected, with particular attention to the free-flow of information, in order to ensure that the situation in Zimbabwe is factually reported.

“So far we have not seen grave human rights violations. Our main concern is that when something like this happens is that there is a curtailment of certain freedoms; the right to liberty, freedom of expression, freedom of association and assembly, and lastly the free flow of information,” he stated.

Given the fact that the military has taken over the national broadcaster, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, Kuveya added that the spread of fake news within Zimbabwe has caused Zimbabwean citizens to seek accurate reports from outside their borders, many focused on reports from South Africa.

“We are not really getting a lot from inside Zimbabwe, except from people who have travelled to Zimbabwe and then have come back outside Zimbabwe and given information or people just communicating via social media. So access to information is problematic around this time.”

With Zimbabwe having headed towards elections in recent months, he noted that elections within any country are a major point for observation for Amnesty, adding that elections should not be a time for trepidation or intimidation. Citizen should, therefore, be afforded a space in which to choose a leader of their choice without fear.

If the Constitution of Zimbabwe is followed, the country should hold elections before August 2018.

“So as Amnesty, we are already watching events as Zimbabwe prepares to go for elections before August 2018. Our main concern is the security of the people in Zimbabwe, their safety and their right to dignity and that people must not experience violence around election period.”

Kuveya said that while there is debate about whether or not the situation in Zimbabwe is in fact symptoms of a coup, according to Amnesty, it is a coup, albeit a “soft or bloodless one”.

“Fortunately, no one has been killed and there have not been grave violations of people’s rights and this is what we are happy about.  We just hope that this continues and that it is a peaceful takeover of power and eventually Zimbabwe will soon return to constitutional normalcy,” Kuveya continued.

LISTEN: Former Zimbabwean Finance Minister and Constitutional Law Expert, Tendai Biti, discusses the unfolding situation in Zimbabwe.

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