HARARE - Joseph Chinotimba, the Zanu PF legislator for Buhera South, has condemned the kidnapping of Nigerian girls by Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram, and called on government as well as the African Union to intervene militarily.
The abduction three weeks ago of hundreds of schoolgirls in Nigeria by the Muslim extremist group is generating worldwide attention and condemnation.
Chinotimba made the call yesterday while contributing to a motion by MDC MP Paurina Mpariwa for the house to take note of the report on the Conference of Women Parliamentarians on legislators held last year in South Africa to respond to violence against women and children in Africa .
The Buhera legislator said Zimbabwe should join the rest of the world in condemning the extremist group unequivocally.
“Kana kuine nyaya dzinonzi dzingatumirwe mauto kuti abatsire ndidzodzi (This is an example of a situation that calls for military intervention) and Zimbabwe should work with the African Union and the rest of the world to consider that option to rescue the children,” said Chinotimba.
He said even local political parties should join hands in condemning the terrorist action by Boko Haram.
Chinotimba said cases of abuse of children and women had become endemic not only in foreign lands but also locally.
“It is painful when children and women are abused by influential people.
“As leaders we should never be implicated in such cases like what is happening to some of us,” he said in apparent reference to Mike Gava, a Zanu PF legislator who was recently arrested for rape.
Gift Chimanikire, the MDC MP for Southerton, also condemned the abduction of the over 200 Nigerian girls.
He was supported by Annastacia Ndlovu who said Zimbabwe was not immune to such acts hence the need to be in solidarity with Nigeria.
Ndlovu prayed for the immediate release of the girls. Religious leaders including Muslim sects in various countries have criticised Boko Haram for using Islamic teachings as justification for threatening to sell the girls into slavery.
Others have focused on what they view as a slow response by Nigeria’s government to the crisis.
Chimanikire also took a swipe at government for paying lip service to the plight of the Chingwizi flood victims, saying that it was an example of abuse of women.
He called on government, through the Justice ministry, to consider enacting laws that upgrade the sentences for rape and other forms of abuse against women.
The contribution was supported by Mkoba MP Amos Chibaya who said women at Chingwizi were being denied their conjugal rights as they are made to sleep in the same tent with their grown-up children.
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