JOHANNESBURG – A United Nations (UN) special rapporteur on torture told reporters on Thursday that he would recommend that the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) take action against Zimbabwe, following his abortive fact finding mission to the troubled southern African country on Wednesday.

Manfred Nowak – the UN expert on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment – was barred from entering Zimbabwe after he had proceeded to Harare International Airport even after the government had said it wanted the visit postponed.

He was deported to Johannesburg aboard a South African Airways plane after spending the night in the airport’s departure lounge

Nowak told reporters after arriving in South Africa that he remained concerned about torture in Zimbabwe and would recommend that the UNHRC take action against the country.

"I will report to the Human Rights Council and I will recommend to them to take necessary action in respect of Zimbabwe," Nowak said.

Nowak had been invited by the government to visit Zimbabwe to conduct a fact-finding mission in what was going to be a first for Harare authorities to extend such an invitation to a UN torture expert.

He was expected to meet government officials, human rights institutions and civil society representatives. The Austrian law expert was also set to inspect prisons and police stations, and present a report to the UNHRC.

But Nowak, who was determined to carry out his mission even when he was notified upon his arrival in Johannesburg in transit to Harare, that the invitation had been withdrawn at the last minute and postponed to a yet to be announced date, conceded that his mission had failed.

"I think that it is the end of the mission. I think I have not been treated by any government in such a rude manner than by the government of Zimbabwe. I will not (go) back," Nowak said.

He said the UNHRC could adopt a resolution condemning Zimbabwe and requesting an investigation, or the council could set up an independent investigation team to look into human rights in the country.

The UN envoy said he had been invited to Zimbabwe by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, whose power-sharing deal with President Robert Mugabe is under severe strain.

"I think it sheds light on the present power structure of the unity government if the Prime Minister invites me for a personal meeting and his office is not in a position to clear my entrance to the country. That is a very alarming signal about the power structure of the present government.

"There was a lot of either miscommunication, or it was a clear strategy by certain sections within the ZANU PF, including of course the minister of foreign affairs, who just wanted to deny me entry and to deprive me of the possibility of assessing the human rights situation in the country," he said.

Former opposition MDC party leader Tsvangirai announced two weeks ago that his party would no longer attend Cabinet and was cutting all contact with Mugabe and his ZANU PF party until all outstanding issues to the Global Political Agreement (GPA) that gave birth to the coalition government are resolved, plunging the unity government into its worst crisis since its formation in February.

The two parties remain deadlocked over key appointments while the MDC also accuses ZANU PF of engaging in a campaign to persecute its supporters.

At least 17 MDC legislators have been arrested since the beginning of the year on charges ranging from theft and public violence to rape and playing music that denigrates Mugabe.

ZANU PF, in turn, accuses the MDC of reneging on a promise to push for the removal of travel bans and an asset freeze slapped by the West on its senior officials. – ZimOnline