I just signed ONE’s petition calling on the African Union to keep its promise to the new unity government of Zimbabwe and I hope you will too:

http://www.one.org/zimbabweandtheau

The consequences of years of poor governance in Zimbabwe, as I have written about before, are poverty and disease on a tragic scale demanding a global response. Public hospitals have been without running water for months, creating a petri dish for easily preventable killers such as cholera. More than 3,000 people have died in Africa’s worst cholera epidemic in 19 years. Schools have been shut down because teachers can’t be paid. The agricultural sector has collapsed, half the population requires emergency food aid, and humanitarian aid groups are struggling to keep up.

Now Zimbabwe has a new unity government, but in order for it to have any chance to tackle these problems, it is going to need the African Union to do everything in its power as guarantor of the new government. The African Union can put Zimbabwe on the right footing and show the world that it is serious about change by aggressively policing the agreement, and, at a minimum, acting on the four recommendations offered by civil society groups in Zimbabwe:
-Insist on the immediate cessation of abductions and torture, as well as the release of the human rights activists and political prisoners.
-Demand that humanitarian agencies be allowed to work in an unrestricted environment.
-Call for an immediate repeal of unjust legislation like the Access to Information and the Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Public Order and Security Act (POSA).
-Ensure an enabling environment for the new unity government.

Add your name to the petition and show the African Union that the world is watching what it does in Zimbabwe:

http://www.one.org/zimbabweandtheau