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Mashudu Netsianda Senior Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has been transformed from being a brutal colonial regime tool of suppression of the rights of the majority into a people-driven and friendly police force.
As a result, Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi told The Chronicle yesterday, the force has been recognised for peacekeeping operations worldwide.
Hundreds of ZRP officers have been seconded to UN Peacekeeping Missions in different countries with more missions continuing to seek their services.
Unlike its predecessor, the British South Africa Police (BSAP), which was repressive, the ZRP is a people-oriented and protective force that continues to enjoy recognition worldwide.
“Our police force changed from the colonial and brutal BSAP which oppressed black people and promoted the interests of the white minority which ruled this country during the Rhodesian era. However, unlike the BSAP, the ZRP is there to protect people and their businesses as well as maintaining law and order in our country,” Minister Mohadi said.
“ZRP is a police force that is working for the people and within the people in line with the principles of our constitution. International bodies like United Nations and African Union have continuously sought skills and expertise from officers in the ZRP in policing troubled spots in the world. This has seen ZRP officers being deployed to various nations under the UN Peacekeeping Missions.”
Zimbabwe’s first UN deployment came in 1991 in the UN Verification Mission in Angola (UNAVEM II). The good performance of the Zimbabwean detachment earned the country a credible reputation that led to further UN requests for its personnel. Since then, security personnel from the country’s security forces, including the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) and the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS), have participated in UN missions including in Angola, Côte d’Ivoire, East Timor, Eritrea, Kosovo, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan and South Sudan.
Cde Mohadi said ZRP officers have continued to shine during UN peacekeeping missions.
A notable example is ZRP national spokesperson, Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba, who served with distinction in the UN Peacekeeping Missions. At the end of her tenure of service as operations coordinator under the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Liberia between 2009 and March 2012, Snr Ass Comm Charamba was described as “exemplary” by Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
Snr Asst Comm was instrumental in the deployment of the UN police during the Liberian elections which were held peacefully.
She was also, on five occasions, UN police commissioner and deputy commissioner in an acting capacity during the Liberia mission.
She also sat in all strategic meetings of the National Security Council chaired by President Sirleaf.
Cde Mohadi said Zimbabwe is one of the few countries in the world where the number of female peacekeepers from the police force meets the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) target of at least 20 percent of female representation.
“Significantly, women’s representation in Zimbabwe’s peacekeeping forces continues to increase. In 2011, 31 percent of the Zimbabweans in peacekeeping forces were women, and this increased to 41 percent in December, 2014,” said the minister.
Cde Mohadi said Zimbabwe has also provided personnel to non-UN missions in Africa. In 2014, Zimbabwe contributed police officers to Sadc’s observation mission in Lesotho to assist in maintaining peace and security after political tension erupted in that country.
Zimbabwe also provided a police commissioner for the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).
He said Zimbabwe’s commitment to international and regional peace, stability and development has been the underlying rationale for providing peacekeepers.
The country hosts the Sadc Regional Peacekeeping Training Centre (Sadc-RPTC) located in Harare, which has played a decisive regional security role. The RPTC provides training to prepare civilian, police and military personnel from Sadc states for potential deployment in peace missions.
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