[JURIST] The African Commission on Human and People's Rights [official website] will review alleged human rights violations committed by Zimbabwe [JURIST news archive] after African non-governmental organizations placed the issue on the agenda of ACHPR's 41st session, which began Wednesday. In an interview [recorded audio] with VOA News, Wilbert Mandinde, legal advisor to the Zimbabwe Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa [advocacy website], said that the number of human rights abuses in the country has increased and called upon the commission to act. Zimbabwe Ambassador to the United Nations Boniface Chidyausiku, however, told [recorded audio] VOA News that the organizations are exaggerating the situation and misrepresenting facts.

The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) [official website] voted [press release] last week to send a fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe to investigate allegations of ongoing human rights abuses. Zimbabwe's PAP delegate expressed outrage [JURIST report] over the decision, asserting that there were more pressing issues that the PAP should be dealing with. VOA News has more.