ZIMBABWE Defence Forces (ZDF) chief legal officer Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Mutungwazi yesterday pleaded with Parliament to immediately pass the Biological Weapons and Toxins Bill in order to cleanse the country’s poor international image.
Paidamoyo Muzulu
Mutungwazi made the call when he was giving oral evidence before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Defence, Home Affairs and Security Services.
The Bill seeks to prohibit development, production and stockpiling of toxic weapons.
It will act as the culmination in the domestication of the Biological Weapons Convention of 1975 and the Geneva Protocol of 1925.
“Undue delays will place us on a precarious position. Our position in the international community is not very good, we need to cleanse it,” Mutungwazi said.
He added that Zimbabwe signed the Biological Weapons Convention in November 1990, but has never been a signatory to the Geneva Protocol.
The two international treaties help in reducing the suffering caused by war and eliminating weapons of mass destruction.
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“The Bill is part of the International Humanitarian Law which seeks to alleviate suffering by protecting those not participating in armed conflicts,” Mutungwazi added.
“Zimbabwe does not aspire to produce, stockpile or use these biological weapons.”
The country has suffered the bane of chemical and biological weapons particularly towards the end of the liberation struggle when the Ian Smith-led Rhodesian regime used chemical weapons and biological weapons such as anthrax against war veterans.
Biological developments have accelerated in the recent past and now the world has new technologies as “nano-biotechnology” becoming prevalent in developed countries. Currently, the regulation and control of the biotechnology is being done by the Biotechnology Authority of Zimbabwe in close liaison with the military and health agents.
Committee member Paul Madzore requested ZDF to organise a workshop in which the parliamentary committee would be taken through the issues in simple and logical steps.
Defence Ministry permanent secretary Martin Rushwaya pledged to facilitate the workshop.
“We have a cooperating partner who is ready and willing to fund such a workshop and we will liaise with Parliament on the date and logistics,” Rushwaya said.
