UN torture expert hopeful Zimbabwe visit will go ahead (1st Lead)

Johannesburg/Harare - A United Nations expert on torture said Wednesday negotiations were underway with Zimbabwe's government to allow an eight-day fact-finding mission to the country after the government withdrew its invitation at the last minute. UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment Manfred Nowak said he was was still expecting to travel to Zimbabwe later Wednesday, but that it was 'not yet very clear' where the government in Harare stood on his visit. 'There are negotiations ongoing with the government,' he told the German Press Agency dpa in Johannesburg, where he was in transit en route to Zimbabwe. 'At the moment I expect to go,' he added. Nowak was invited by Patrick Chinamasa, justice minister in the coalition government of President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, to visit from 28 October to 4 November. Chinamasa is a close ally of 85-year-old Mugabe. But Harare retracted the invitation on Monday, saying the government would be in talks with regional leaders during that time on how to resolve a worsening standoff between the coalition partners. Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) announced 12 days ago it was boycotting ministerial meetings on the basis that Mugabe's Zanu-PF was a 'dishonest and unreliable' partner in government and refusing to implement agreed-upon reforms. A troika of leaders from the Southern African Development Community, the regional political bloc, is set to hold talks with the two leaders in Harare on Thursday in a bid to pull the government back from the brink of collapse. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) quoted Zimbabwe's government as saying that 'due to the previously unanticipated consultative process currently taking place in Harare involving the Government of National Unity and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Government of Zimbabwe will be unable to receive the Special Rapporteur on the proposed dates.' Zimbabwe's mission in Geneva informed the OHCHR in Geneva that the visit was off and asked that Nowak postpone his visit, said Nowak, who received the news on Tuesday after he arrived in Johannesburg. Nowak has questioned the reason for the about-turn, which comes as the MDC raises the alarm over a fresh crackdown on its members and activists in the wake of the party's government boycott. 'Recent allegations that MDC supporters and human rights defenders have been arrested, harassed and intimidated during the past few days, highlight the urgency of objective fact-finding by an independent UN expert at this crucial stage,' the OHCHR statement added. 'He (Nowak) fails to be convinced, however, that the Consultative process on Thursday, 29 October should be a valid reason to cancel his eight-day mission at such a late stage,' the OHCHR added.