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Zimbabwe: Muzzling Democracy and Freedom in the Age of COVID19

The Zimbabwean bloodless coup that was not a coup of 2017, largely oversaw a non-violent transition of power from the former president Robert Mugabe to the current president Emmerson Mnangagwa and this was met with a high level of optimism, and in some quarters, euphoria. The sense of goodwill was shared across the country, in civil society and even from the opposition.

In the ensuing years since the moment that marked a promising watershed in Zimbabwe’s turbulent political landscape, the country and the world has witnessed ZANU-PF’s return to the business as usual of repressive political tactics that undermine democracy, mismanagement of the economy, and crushing of dissent including any perceived threats.

Perhaps in the most astounding illustration of irony, the same leaders who deposed former president Robert Mugabe in order to free all Zimbabweans from his tyrannical dictatorship and work towards a freer, more transparent society, are the very same crushing dissent that had been an essential human right to be respected no less than 3 years ago.

The coronavirus pandemic has presented a unique set of challenges in individual countries and some are shared, however in the case of Zimbabwe, the troubles of its own making have been heightened by the Covid-19 crisis to a degree that has resulted in a shocking display of human rights abuses and suppression of dissent under the guise of anti-coronavirus measures.

The events of 20 July 2020 in which Zimbabwean police arrested and detained the prominent investigative journalist, Hopewell Chin’ono, bring to a head ZANU-PF’s longstanding disdain for any critical media, or generally any critique that exposes its shortcomings. The arrest of Hopewell comes after he had blown the whistle on a $60 million procurement corruption scandal involving the former Health Minister, Obadiah Moyo, in June 2020. Chin’ono was charged with “incitement to participate in public violence.” His lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, insists that Chin’ono was abducted by the police without a warrant. Around the same time police detained Jacob Ngarivhume on the same charge. Ngarivhume is the leader of Transform Zimbabwe, a political group spearheading plans for a national anti-corruption protest that was scheduled for 31 July. Although the arrest of Chin’ono and Ngarivhume is among several others of a similar nature, these two have been a catalyst in prompting widespread public outcry. On the eve of Chin’ono and Ngarivhume’s 22 July court appearance, President Emmerson Mnangagwa ordered his security forces to enforce a nationwide dusk-to-dawn curfew and ban of large gatherings. This was reportedly in response to a recent spike in Covid-19 case.

Zimbabwe’s increase in authoritarian measures has hardly been a unique phenomenon in southern Africa during the Coronavirus pandemic, in where several countries in the region have appeared to use punitive measures under the guise of enforcing anti-coronavirus lockdown measures. Generally, this has been relatively begrudgingly tolerated with some incidences of civil unrest in a number of countries in the region, but not to the extent that is has in Zimbabwe.

What differs about the Zimbabwe case is that this latest bout of suppression, under the guise of anti-coronavirus measures, directed at the citizenry appears to be an overspill of a variety of pre-existing mostly self-made challenges that are yet to be resolved or addressed adequately. It is also eclipsed by a wider global discourse on police brutality, instigated by the murder of George Floyd in the United States of America. In the face of calls to treat all humans with dignity, uphold democracy and hold the police and state accountable for unnecessary brute force and denial of basic civil rights, the case of Zimbabwe stands out awkwardly for some of its blaring similarities. The prevalence of the pandemic has only heightened these issues in a way that cannot be ignored and has elicited local and international condemnation for the way in which the government is attempting to effectively silence all critique into its handling of the pandemic, the economy, state corruption and an all but collapsed health sector.

Overcoming Zimbabwe’s troubled history and steering the country towards a more prosperous future was never going to be an overnight job that came with a magic silver bullet, a challenge acknowledged by Mnangagwa himself. Perhaps the most trying of the challenges was formulating inventive ways to reverse the continual freefall of Zimbabwe’s economy towards fiscal ruin at proportions only last witnessed in 2008.  Removing Mugabe from the presidency and leadership of ZANU-PF may have bought some time and even engendered an opportunity to rebuild battered relations with the international community, however the urgency for tangible solutions during the pandemic has shortened the patience of many Zimbabweans.  The arrest of more than 105,0000 people for allegedly violating lockdown regulations since March 2020, including 3 female opposition MPs in June who were also sexually assaulted, points to a largely reactionary government using the pandemic as a one size fits all cover purposed for convenient deflection. While the coronavirus has had a negative impact on Zimbabwe’s already fragile economy and citizenry, the government has used the cover of Covid-19 to quietly and quickly introduce amendments to the constitution. Although amendments were already in motion prior to the implementation of lockdown in March 2020, the push to complete the process under lockdown and a state of emergency, while banning all protests and public gatherings of more than 50 is an example of sheer cunning by the government to do away with any legitimate democratic process where citizens are consulted. It is for one of these reasons that current government action to supress press freedom, civil society, the opposition, lawyers, members of the health sector, trade unionists and more is met with extreme alarm and deep suspicion. Dissatisfaction with the government prior to the pandemic was already increasing to the levels not seen since 2008 as the country appeared to be hurtling to a period of similar, if not worse, uncertainty and instability. Any measure of goodwill the citizenry and the international community may have had for Mnangagwa’s premiership is likely to decrease significantly as his government moves further away from its inaugural commitment towards a freer and more democratic and transparent country. From the attempts at amending the constitution under the cover of Covid-19 in addition to widespread repression of almost every facet of society, it is evident that dissatisfaction with the government does not go unnoticed by ZANU-PF and the active measures to secure ZANU-PF’s hold on power by any means necessary seems to be the order of the day again.

Security Advisory: Potential Military Mutiny in Mali (18 August)

A military mutiny is currently under way outside of the Malian capital Bamako. A military spokesman has confirmed that at around 0900 local time on Tuesday 18 August 2020 gunshots were fired at the Soundiata Keita base in Kati, located about 12 km (9 miles) outside of Bamako on the RN1. Reportedly, armed men in pick-ups stormed the camp, exchanging fire with soldiers present at the site. Arms stores were ransacked, with some soldiers demanding the departure of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. Local residents are reported to be sheltering while the road that connects Kati with Bamako has been blocked.  Another source who handles security for non-governmental organization in Mali has reported that gunfire had also been heard near the prime minister’s office. Reports have also emerged that the Malian Minister of Economy and Finance, Abdoulaye Daffé, has been reportedly kidnapped after receiving a visit from unidentified armed men at his ACI 2000 office at around 0800 Tuesday morning. Reports have also indicated that several government ministers have been arrested in Bamako. At around 1000 local time, the Presidential Security Chief was removed from his command.

The country has seen a tense political situation in recent months, with opponents of current President Keita leading mass protests since June, calling on the president to resign over what they say are his failures to restore security and address corruption.

A mutiny at the base in Kati led to a coup d’état in 2012, which toppled then-President Amadou Toumani Toure and contributed to the fall of the northern region of Mali to jihadist militants.

MS RISK ADVISORY: Anyone currently in or around Kati is advised to avoid the area while those currently in Bamako are advised to remain indoors due to the ongoing tensions in Kati and Bamako. Unconfirmed reports have indicated that military personnel are currently heading into Bamako.  MS Risk is currently closely monitoring the situation in Bamako and will release further updates to this security advisory as additional information becomes available.

The Disinfodemic Has Hit Eastern Europe

The number of requests for information about COVID-19 developments, such as death tolls and vaccine updates, remains high. Some are taking advantage of the current desire for information as evidenced by the rising spread of misinformation and disinformation about the virus. First of all, it is important to distinguish between the two. While misinformation is defined as false information that is spread, regardless of intent to mislead, disinformation generally refers to deliberately misleading or biased information and manipulated narrative or facts. The crucial difference between the two, therefore, is intent.

Disinformation is dangerous as it can be destructive and divisive. It has often been used by countries to undermine rival nations. Since the pandemic started we have seen several incidents involving spread of disinformation. Cyber-security firm FireEye warned in a July 2020 report, “’Ghostwriter’ Influence Campaign: Unknown Actors Leverage Website Compromises and Fabricated Content to Push Narratives Aligned with Russian Security Interests”, that hackers have broken into news websites and posted fake stories aiming at stirring up anti-NATO sentiment. FireEye researchers said these are designed to “chip away” at support for NATO in the eastern European countries of Poland and Lithuania, in addition to Latvia. According to them, this disinformation campaign, which has been dubbed Ghostwriter, has been going on since 2017.

While the people behind the attacks have not been identified, the stories are “aligned with Russian security interests” according to the researchers. They generally attempt to discredit NATO and the US, and include discussion favouring Russia. Furthermore, “[i]t appears, based on the limited public information available regarding the website compromises we have tied to Ghostwriter, that the actors behind the campaign are relatively well-resourced, either directly possessing traditional cyber threat capabilities themselves or having ready access to operational support from others who do.”

The hackers publish “falsified news articles, quotes, correspondence and other documents designed to appear as coming from military officials and political figures in the target countries.” For instance, in April 2020 a fake message calling for troops to fight against “the American occupation” was published on the Polish War Studies Academy’s website. It claimed to be from this organisation’s commander and came after Poland had begun seeking to have the US establish a permanent military base there. Meanwhile Russia has called the arrival of US troops there a threat to its security. On May 27, a falsified interview transcript containing quotes from US Army Lt. Gen. Cavoli was published. Its narrative was that Cavoli criticised Polish and Baltic militaries.

More recently, several fake news articles have been focused on the current pandemic, with some suggesting that NATO is pulling out of Lithuania because of the COVID-19 virus and others blaming NATO forces in Europe of contributing to its spread. For instance, in March 2020, falsified quotes from Lithuanian Defence Minister Ramundas Karoblis was published which contained statements that Lithuania would go ahead with DEFENDER-Europe 20 NATO Exercises despite the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to these, FireEye identified several other individual attacks and collected it into what they say is a “broader influence campaign.”

The hackers apparently gained access to the targeted websites’ content management systems (CMS) to replace old articles with own content or post completely new false articles. “Website content management system vulnerabilities are commonplace and easily exploited,” Mallory Knodel, CTO at the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), said. “Strong and secure websites protect against this by making only cached versions of the website available to users through content delivery networks, and some might go so far as to ensure that the back end, the site’s CMS, [isn’t] exposed on the internet at all, and that version control for static page content, like the content of a news story, is closely monitored.” Knodel continued: “Strong authentication for anyone with back-end access is a must, and this can be done through the use of strong passwords, second-factor authentication, and limiting access to those on a virtual private network.”

Furthermore, director of security strategy at Akamai, Tony Lauro, warned that CMSs may be even easier to compromise when attackers can leverage security weaknesses created by the current pandemic-related remote working conditions. “If an attacker can gain access to [the] CMS platform, either by taking over the remote employee’s workstation or by otherwise phishing their login credentials, as you’d imagine, they’d have the keys to the kingdom,” said Lauro. Lauro suggests that “[o]rganizations should look into zero trust-related technologies for remote access so that when employees connect to internal content management systems to upload media, they are not connecting to any additional network resources. This is done by way of a proxied connection between the inside resources and outside users.”

To combat disinformation, independent fact-checking organisations; news organisations; platforms; academics; and civil society organisations continuously monitor and fact-check published information. For instance, an International Fact Checking Network (IFCN) initiative currently spanning 70+ countries fact-checked and debunked over 1.500 COVID-19 related online falsehoods. Such initiatives are vital to uncover the continuously changing disinformation. Other measures have included criminalising acts of producing or sharing COVID-19 disinformation. For instance, Serbia announced a decree in April 2020 limiting access to public information, for which the stated goal was to limit the spread of fake news. On March 31 Russian lawmakers passed amendments to Article 207 of Criminal Code, under which those found to have deliberately spread false information about serious matters of public safety, such as COVID 19, will face fines of up to €23,000 and up to five years in prison. Such measures have however been criticised for having a potential chilling effect on journalists writing about the pandemic as they can stifle independent reporting on the government’s measures. While examining the validity of this criticism is beyond this article, it is important to note that there may be other motivations behind measures implemented to combat disinformation.

Criticism aside, measures must be implemented to combat the current disinfodemic, and not just in eastern Europe as the campaign may eventually spread beyond this region. FireEye warned that the Ghostwriter campaign could be repurposed and target other geographies. “Given the established history of cyber threat and information operations tactics regularly migrating from targeting Eastern Europe to targeting Western Europe and the U.S., this campaign may warrant special attention, especially as elections near,” they said. It is therefore important that security firms and governments continue to pay attention to this campaign and any future developments.

Access to truthful information is essential during the current crisis. Reliable information is necessary for individuals to adapt their behaviour, such as implementing certain social distancing measures, and for countries to learn from other countries’ experiences and responses. Disinformation can be deadly as it sows confusion about live-saving personal and policy choices. It is therefore vital that security for news websites is prioritised and that published information is properly monitored and fact-checked.

Neo-Nazi’s Infiltration within Germany’s Police and Military

Last month, Germany’s defense minister, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, disbanded a fighting company within the KSK, one of the most elite military units in Germany due to the growing of Neo-Nazi views among the members. It was discovered in May that one of the members of the KSK, a sergeant major with the nickname of “Little Sheep”, was hoarding weapons in his house. German authorities found various weapons buried in his garden such as two kilograms of PETN plastic explosives, a detonator, a fuse, an AK-47, a silencer, two knives, a crossbow, and thousands of rounds of ammunition. They also found numerous Nazi memorabilia such as an SS songbook and 14 editions of a magazine for former members of the Waffen SS. The weapons were believed to be stolen from the German military. German officials stated that 48,000 rounds of ammunition and 62 kilograms of explosives have disappeared from the KSK alone, not the whole German military. Politicians in Germany have been in denial regarding the issue of far-rights threats within the military and the police. Weapons have been disappearing from military stockpiled without being investigated. Now, the government seems to have accepted the ugly truth and try to act on it, since cases of far-right extremists in the military and the police, some hoarding weapons and Nazi memorabilia, have multiplied drastically. The mind-set of seeing this as individual cases seems to be not making sense anymore as the numbers indicated that this phenomenon could be well organized. A Counter-intelligence unit within Germany’s military has conducted an investigation towards more than 600 soldiers for suspicion of holding far-right views.

Not only within the military, the Neo-Nazi infiltration within the police force is also concerning. For instance, there was a case in Northern Germany when a police detective started a far-right group chat that listed a list which consisted of thousands of names including politicians, journalists, and activists considered to be the enemy of the Neo-Nazi movement that must be eliminated. The authorities also found more than 50,000 rounds of ammunition hoarded by the police detective inside his apartment along with several guns and flash grenades. The detective stated that the Neo-Nazi group was filled with many police and soldiers. Another case that Germany should pay attention to is the fact that swastika graffiti and anti-Islam slogans are a regular feature in many police academies in Germany. It is also well known that the police never acted seriously in regards to cases involving Neo-Nazi, Anti-Semitism, and racism. The most well-known example of such behavior was the killing spree carried out by the self-named National Socialist Underground (NSU). Between the years 2000 and 2007, the right-wing extremist terror cell murdered nine business owners with immigrant backgrounds, as well as a female police officer. Within this case, the police focused their suspicion towards the victim’s families rather than looking for racist motives. Eventually, the murder spree was ended by the suicide of the perpetrators, a huge failure for the police due to the ignorance towards Neo-Nazi issues.

In general, Far-Right problems in Germany have been a problem for quite a long time, even infiltrated the police and military force. The problem worsens with the emergence of AFD, a Far-Right political party that legitimized the ideology under the pretext of countering the issue of foreign immigrants. The massive number of cases in regards to police and military members exposed in Neo-Nazi views, stealing weapons from the state stockpiles, created a community for like-minded people, could be seen as a signed that the whole movement is organized, thus having a plan which could endangered freedom and democracy in Germany. The government of Germany has to take the issue much more seriously to prevent the ugly past to be repeated.

Media Reports: Lebanese Prime Minister To Resign as Government Falls

Local Lebanese media reported on Monday 10 August that Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab is set to resign within hours after the entire government stepped down. This comes as anti-government protesters continue to demand political change after last week’s explosion in Beirut, which killed more than 160 people and injured around 6,000.

The 4 August port warehouse detonation of more than 2,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate destroyed a swathe of the Mediterranean city, compounding months of political and economic turmoil. Sources have indicated that the cabinet, which was formed back in January, was due to meet on Monday, with a number of ministers wanting to resign. The information and environment ministers resigned on Sunday, along with several lawmakers. On Monday, state-run National News Agency reported, citing the conduct of the government in the aftermath of last week’s blast, that Justice Minister Marie Claude Najm had reassigned earlier in the day.