United Nations Deputy Secretary General Mark Malloch Brown expressed concern at the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe during a meeting of members of parliament from the European Union and African, Caribbean and Pacific nations.

Brown told delegates at a joint parliamentary session of the ACP-EU grouping held in Barbados that the international community must intervene in Zimbabwe to make sure that humanitarian needs are met and that Harare respects the rule of law.

The session at which he made the comments started Nov. 14 and ended Nov. 23.

Brown said the U.N. tried to bring the crisis in Zimbabwe before the Security Council, but had been blocked by members with veto powers. Amnesty International led human rights groups at the ACP-EU session in lobbying for action on human rights. 

Zimbabwe delegation chief Walter Mzembi, a ZANU-PF parliamentarian, told the Daily Mirror of Harare that Brown was “poorly advised’” by the international media and the Zimbabwean opposition. Mzembi said the Southern African Development Community resisted pressure to condemn Harare, and took a swipe at joint assembly co-president Glennys Kinnock, who noted the low life expectancy of Zimbabwean women.

Also present in Barbados was parliamentarian Nelson Chamisa of the Movement for Democratic Change faction of Morgan Tsvangirai. He told reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that pressure is mounting for reform in Harare.

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