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UN Chief Calls Report on Zimbabwe Crackdown 'Profoundly Distressing'
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U.N. estimates 700,000 people have lost homes, businesses during
crackdown on what Zimbabwe calls 'illegal structures'





Malvern Chishazhe, 7, cries after family home was destroyed at Porta
Farm, Zimbabwe, June 30, 2005

United Nations chief Kofi Annan is calling on Zimbabwe to immediately
end forced evictions and demolitions of shantytowns, describing the
government-run campaign as a catastrophic injustice to the nation's
poorest citizens.

Mr. Annan released a statement Friday after receiving a harshly worded
report by U.N. special envoy Anna Tibaijuka, who called the policy
disastrous and inhumane.

Mr. Annan also pledged to work with Zimbabwe to provide aid to those
in need.

The U.N. report estimates some 700,000 people in Zimbabwe have lost
their homes and businesses since the government began bulldozing
so-called illegal structures - saying they had become hubs of criminal
activity.

In response, Zimbabwe's U.N. representative Boniface Chidyausiku told
the state-run daily Herald newspaper the international community
should help provide housing, saying international sanctions are
responsible for the Zimbabwe's poor economy.


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