Corpun file 0386 at www.corpun.com

The Star, Johannesburg, S.Africa, 10 October 1996

Human rights record improving

(extracts)

A culture of human rights is emerging in southern Africa and relatively few people are randomly killed or disappear (except in KwaZulu Natal), according to Amnesty International's report for 1995 recently released.

[...]

Press freedom was challenged in Tanzania, with six journalists arrested as prisoners of conscience. Authorities there have used criminal charges to harass journalists; about a dozen face charges. In the runup to the elections in Zanzibar, allegations of harassment of opposition parties were made. Courts continue to impose sentences of caning -- 10 strokes for two youths convicted of attempting to steal a car.

In a breach of international and regional treaties, Tanzania closed its border to refugees fleeing Burundi in March. At least one group of 300 refugees was forcibly returned. There were reports of robbery, rape and killings of refugees by Tanzanian soldiers. Amnesty International has called for impartial investigations into these allegations.