Lusaka, Zambia – Representatives of hundreds of thousands of African tobacco farmers will gather at the International Tobacco Growers Association Africa Regional Meeting from May 28 to 30 to discuss outrageous recommendations being developed by international regulators that would destroy their livelihoods.

Farmer leaders attending the meeting from Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe will focus on the recommendations provided by the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) working group on Articles 17 & 18. The FCTC originally recommended that governments of these countries should help tobacco farmers find viable economic alternative crops, assuming that tobacco demand will decline.

Very little research on alternative, economically viable crops has been undertaken and as the group recognises, any future research will require lengthy time trials. However, the FCTC has now put forward unreasonable and absurd measures to phase out tobacco production, without offering the vast African farming community any viable fall-back solutions.

Antonio Abrunhosa, chief executive officer of the International Tobacco Growers Association (ITGA), which represents more than 30 million tobacco farmers and workers around the world, says an entire region’s economy is being put at risk by this “new form of imperialism” by health officials with no experience in agriculture. “With nothing to show for their efforts to find alternatives to tobacco farming, they’re moving toward telling governments to make it impossible for farmers to keep growing tobacco, regardless of the impact on millions of jobs.”

Tobacco farming not only provides a good living for millions of people but it is a vital source of foreign revenue for many of these countries. In Malawi 7 out of 10 workers are either directly or indirectly employed by the sector and tobacco represents 80% of the country’s agriculture GDP.

Francois van der Merwe, chairman of ITGA Africa Region said the decision makers within the FCTC have moved beyond their original intention of helping tobacco farmers find viable alternative crops. “This shift is happening with a complete disregard for the fact that tobacco is one of the only crops that provides sustainable income for many families in this region.”

Jorge Nestor, the Argentinean President of ITGA, referred the vast experience of his association in the search for alternative crops, highlighting the huge investment necessary to develop complementary crops to tobacco, far beyond the possibilities of the majority of tobacco growers’ communities.

The ITGA is a non-profit organization that works to advance the cause of millions of tobacco farmers to the world. It strives to provide a strong collective voice on an international and national scale in order to ensure the long-term security of tobacco farming communities.

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The Global Alliance for Zimbabwe applauded British Prime Minister David Cameron’s call for fostering the growth of democratic culture in Zimbabwe, and echoed fully his appeal to the international community to ensure non-violent, free and fair elections later this year.

“Advocating for a peaceful, prosperous, and free Zimbabwe is our daily mission, and we agree with Prime Minister Cameron that non-violent, free and fair elections are the essential first step,” said Chairman Roy Bennett.

“For this reason, members of the international community will be gathering in Washington, DC on April 19, 2012 to learn more about the rampant human rights violations in Zimbabwe, and how they can help to eradicate them,” Bennett continued.

For nearly thirty years, Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF have ruled Zimbabwe with ruthless, destructive focus. Employing torture and terror to maintain control of the citizenry, they’ve confiscated private property, dismantled once thriving businesses, and shuttered all but state-controlled media. Thousands have been killed, tens of thousands have been raped or maimed, and hundreds of thousands have been forcibly removed from their homes.

“During the Zimbabwe elections of 2008, our citizens voted overwhelmingly for a new democratic government. In the face of organized beatings, mob attacks, rapes, murders and torture, the people of Zimbabwe stood strong and united in their opposition to Mugabe and ZANU-PF.

Sadly, it was not enough,” said Bennett. “Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF refused to recognize the results of the election and punished those who opposed him. Since the 2008 election, atrocities in Zimbabwe have continued, with military henchmen using violence and intimidation to maintain control of the country.

“During the aftermath of the 2008 election, International opinion was offended, but not inclined to intervene. This time around, we won’t be so timid about asking for the world to please pay closer attention. In our effort to bring awareness to the humanitarian crisis and focus international attention on upcoming elections – to proactively advocate for non-violent, free and fair elections in 2012 – we strive also to seek, summon, and coalesce International outrage with which to pressure Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF to end abuses and free Zimbabwe.

“With your help, we envision a peaceful, prosperous and free Zimbabwe that is an example to the region, the continent and the world of how a country, and its people, can thrive when good governance, the rule of law and a democratically-elected government are allowed to exist,”

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