VZCZCXRO5541
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHSB #0245/01 0851423
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 261423Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY HARARE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1294
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEHUJA/AMEMBASSY ABUJA 1539
RUEHAR/AMEMBASSY ACCRA 1397
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 1543
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0212
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0806
RUEHDK/AMEMBASSY DAKAR 1169
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 1598
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 4002
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1368
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 2026
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0668
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1760

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 000245 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
AF/S FOR S.HILL 
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU 
ADDIS ABABA FOR ACSS 
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR E.LOKEN 
STATE PASS TO NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR B.PITTMAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM ZI
SUBJECT: ZIMBABWE UPDATE: MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR SLAIN 
ACTIVIST TOMORROW; WEEKEND MDC PRO-SENATE FACTION RALLY 
FIZZLES 
 
 
------ 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) The memorial service for slain MDC activist Gift 
Tandare will be held tomorrow.  The organizers are planning a 
low-key event to avoid government intervention.  Western 
diplomats plan to attend as a further restraint.  Separately, 
the pro-Senate MDC faction's plans for a weekend rally to 
demonstrate opposition to the government fizzled when the 
government lifted the ban for the event.  End Summary. 
 
----------------------------------- 
Memorial Service for Slain Activist 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) The Save Zimbabwe Campaign intends to hold a 
memorial service March 27 for Gift Tandare, the opposition 
activist slain by police on March 11.  Catholic Archbishop 
Pius Ncube will deliver the main sermon at the service, which 
will be held at the Northside Community Church in the low 
density suburb of Borrowdale.  Speakers will include NCA 
president Lovemore Madhuku, and MDC leaders Morgan Tsvangirai 
and Arthur Mutambara. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The organizers of the service told us the venue was 
selected in order to minimize the threat of government 
intervention.  Northside Community Church is located in a 
low-density area in one of the more affluent areas of Harare. 
 The organizers said for the same reason there were no plans 
to hold a march in connection with the service.  Save 
Zimbabwe organizers told us they would bus attendees to the 
church from their homes in high-density areas.  They expected 
two to three thousand people to attend. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Organizers were cautiously optimistic that the 
service would not provoke arrests or violence by government 
security agents.  However, the Save Zimbabwe campaign has 
issued invitations to the diplomatic community, and Charge, 
accompanied by other Embassy officials, will attend.  Most of 
the European Ambassadors are also planning to attend.  (N.B. 
We have worked closely with the UK Mission to ensure a large 
turnout of diplomats both to forestall the possibility of 
violence and to signal that the diplomatic corps in Harare 
will do its job regardless of GOZ threats.) 
 
------------------------ 
Pro-Senate rally fizzles 
------------------------ 
 
¶5.  (SBU) The GOZ last week officially annouced a one-month 
ban on demonstrations in several arare areas.  Police 
officials had previously anounced a sweeping three month 
ban, which would lkely have been struck down by the courts, 
as eve the draconian Public Security and Order Act (POSA 
limits such bans to one month.  The government then promptly 
lifted the ban for a scheduled March 24 rally by the 
pro-Senate faction of the MDC in the high-density area of 
Chitingwitza. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The rally had been called in the first place to 
demonstrate the pro-Senate faction,s willingness to take on 
the government and to dampen criticism that they were hiding 
behind Morgan Tsvangirai's anti-Senate faction.  In any 
 
HARARE 00000245  002 OF 002 
 
 
event, the pro-Senate leadership apparently decided not to 
push the rally and few of their supporters showed.  Allowing 
the demonstration to proceed appears to have been another 
attempt on the part of the GOZ to divide the two MDC factions. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) There is a sense that things have calmed down in 
Zimbabwe for now.  We do not anticipate violence at the 
Tandare service.  There is, however, a good chance that the 
government may try to limit the number of mourners at the 
event by stopping the buses from the high-density areas.  In 
addition to an Embassy presence at the service, we will also 
be monitoring government actions elsewhere in Harare.  End 
Comment. 
SCHULTZ