US plot to fund subversive NGOs exposed

FRESH evidence has emerged of yet another plot by the United States to fund opposition-linked civil society organisations to destabilise the country through sustained civil unrest.

The Sunday Mail has gathered that the US Embassy in Harare has slated a workshop in the capital between December 2 and 10 to train subversive civil society organisations on strategies of sustaining demonstrations.

An organisation dubbed Frontline Defenders is facilitating the workshop in conjunction with the US Embassy.

The agenda of the workshop includes training civil society organisations on “ways to sustain demonstrations” and how to outsmart the police.

This strategy is a change in tact as recent opposition demonstrations, such as last week’s illegal Hope of the Nation Address (HONA) by MDC- Alliance leader, Nelson Chamisa, have been swiftly dealt with by the police.

Sources told The Sunday Mail that the timing of the meeting was also planned to coincide with the visit by United Nations Human Rights Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Ms Hilal Elver, who is currently in the country.

The sources said: “The Frontline Defenders is planning a workshop with the aim of training subversive civil society organisations on ways of sustaining demonstrations.

“The US Embassy is planning this workshop and is intending to host it at the Embassy’s Chancery.”

The US Embassy in Harare did not respond to questions send by The Sunday Mail.

An official from the embassy, Mr Wezani Siza, promised that the US would respond, but they had not done so by late yesterday.

Last week, the UN said Ms Elver will carry out a fact-finding visit to Zimbabwe from November 18 to 28, 2019. In a statement, Mr Elver confirmed her visit to the country.

“The objective of my visit is to engage in constructive discussions to identify good practices as well as challenges to the enjoyment of the right to food in Zimbabwe, and provide useful recommendations to the Government and others,” read the statement in part.

“I will consider the increased challenges posed by the economic crisis, as well as the role of the private sector, the impact of climate change, natural disasters and drought on food security and people’s livelihoods, and the issues related to nutrition and food quality in both urban and rural areas.”

Ms Elver’s visit to the country is the first by an independent expert on the right to food.

The Special Rapporteur will visit Harare as well as rural areas most affected by the El Nino-induced drought. She will meet Government officials, independent institutions, representatives from the UN system, the international donor community, civil society organisations and local communities.

She concludes her visit on November 28, but her final report will be presented to the Human Rights Council in Geneva in March 2020.

Groups of shady organisations from Zimbabwe with links to the opposition MDC-Alliance have in recent months been hard at work laying the groundwork for civil unrest and planning new tactics against the police, who have been extensively trained to deal with such threats.

Last week, police dispersed dozens of MDC-Alliance supporters that gathered at the party’s Harvest House headquarters in Harare, as the gathering had not been sanctioned.