According to the information received from the pan-African trade union organisation, ITUC-Africa, Adu-Amankwah was forcefully taken from Jameson Hotel in Zimbabwe to Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport by officers from the Department of Immigration of Zimbabwe on February 26. He was held in detention for several hours.
Adu-Amankwah travelled to Zimbabwe on behalf of African trade unions to conduct a solidarity mission with the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), one of the 105 affiliates of the ITUC-Africa. During his visit, Adu-Amankwah was supposed to hold meetings with the Zimbabwean Ministry of Labour, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and also the Employers’ Association of Zimbabwe.
Mr Sadiq Ibrahim Ahmed, President of FAJ, condemns in strongest possible terms the arrest of Mr Kwasi Adu-Amankwah, ITUC-Africa General Secretary, and the repression against Zimbabwean trade union leaders.
He stated, “The brutal arrest of the ITUC-Africa General Secretary Kwasi Adu-Amankwah, the top representative of African trade union movement, demonstrates an unchanged situation of oppression of human rights against trade unions under the new government of Zimbabwe. We welcome the release of Kwasi Adu-Amankwah who should have never been arrested”.
Whilst expressing the undivided solidarity of African journalists to Kwasi Adu-Amankwah and the entire ITUC-Africa family, who also represents many FAJ members, the FAJ strongly condemns the ongoing brutal attacks, harassments and judicial persecution of trade union leaders and journalists in Zimbabwe.
"Even if our comrade, Kwasi Adu-Amankwah, was released a few hours after his arrest, this detention is an aggression against the trade union movement and a new shocking intimidation act in Zimbabwe. I hope that my friend Kwasi has been well treated and I wish him to exercise his right to freedom of movement now," said IFJ General Secretary, Anthony Bellanger.
FAJ, therefore, calls for the government of Zimbabwe to immediately stop the brutal suppression of labour’s voice, respect freedom of association and allow workers and their union leaders to freely and peacefully express their demands without any reprisals.