OneWorld.net (U.S.)

ADDIS ABABA, Feb 3 (OneWorld.net) - Pressure is mounting on the administration of Robert Mugabe with over 35,000 people from 190 countries fasting in solidarity with the Zimbabwean people's struggle for survival, justice, and democracy.

Kumi Naidoo. © Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP)"People are fasting in 30 countries across the African continent and in countries as far away as Argentina, Burma, and Papua New Guinea," said Ricken Patel, executive director of Avaaz, a global movement with a mission to bring good governance. "The global solidarity fast is taking place at a crucial time when a new government will be formed in Zimbabwe -- now more than ever African leaders need to address the crisis of hunger, disease, and human rights in Zimbabwe."

Kumi Naidoo, Save Zimbabwe Now activist and honorary president of the global civil society coordinating group CIVICUS, is on his 14th day of a three-week hunger strike that initiated this coordinated global action. He is attending the African Union (AU) heads of state and government summit here to appeal to African leaders to urge the government of Zimbabwe to restore human and democratic rights and declare a national disaster in the embattled southern African country.

"Given the repeated failures of [the regional negotiating body] SADC to adequately address the desperate humanitarian, economic, and political crisis in Zimbabwe, we are here to demand that the African Union acknowledge and accept its role and responsibilities in finding an appropriate, just, and democratic resolution to the crisis," Naidoo told OneWorld.

African governments, however, do not seem as concerned about the situation in Zimbabwe following the recent agreement between the opposition and the party of President Robert Mugabe to forge a unity government. Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and its rival Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) agreed to break a near-five-month impasse over the formation of a coalition government at a meeting of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) last week in Pretoria, South Africa.

"We are happy that SADC has successfully mediated the peace process in Zimbabwe," said outgoing chair of the African Union and President of Tanzania Jakaya Kikwete. The AU executive council called for the lifting of European and U.S. sanctions against Zimbabwe, saying such a move could help alleviate the humanitarian crisis facing most of the country's 11 million people.

The AU Summit held in Sharm El Sheik in July 2008 mandated the SADC to continue the mediation efforts between Mugabe and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangarai. The two finally agreed to form a joint government last week.

Civil society groups, however, claim the agreement is completely silent on the need to address the unfolding human rights violations, humanitarian, economic, and social crisis in Zimbabwe. They say situations are still not improving on the ground. The embattled African country has been in a state of disarray and gripped by a decade-long recession while more than half its population needs emergency food aid, according to the United Nations.

The economy has mostly ground to a halt, there are widespread reports of human rights violations, a sweeping cholera epidemic has killed over 3,000 and affected 50,000 others, and there is increased insecurity for civil society organizations and entities providing help to victims.

Activists have continued to pressure the longest serving African leader Mugabe and the peace and security council of the African Union to take steps that will see the return of democracy, rule of law, economic recovery, and development to Zimbabwe.

Among the over 80 individuals fasting are Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Bishop Paul Verryn, and women's equality activist and author Nomboniso Gasa.

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