The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has decried the arrest and possible deportation of Mr Kwasi Adu Amankwa, Secretary General of the International Trade Union Congress (ITUC-Africa) by the Zimbabwean authorities in Harare.
In a statement issued on Tuesday by the NLC General Secretary, Peter Ozo-Eson, the labour movement said the arrest of Amankwa who was in Zimbabwe on an international solidarity meeting with the Zimbabwean Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), represents the height of intolerance and repression.
"We demand his immediate release as well as demand that he be given free and unfettered access to members of ZCTU, officials of the Ministry of Labour, Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe and other organisations with which he was scheduled to meet," it said.
NLC also expressed concern over the travails of ZCTU members who were victims of Zimbabwe's government's high-handedness through arbitrary arrests, detentions and other acts of intimidation, all of which drew international condemnation.
"That government, in spite of the global outrage against its ill-advised behaviour, could arrest Mr. Amankwa, a diplomat in his own right and without any stated offence, signifies how far it is prepared to go on its mission of repression.
"We will however warn that the government of Zimbabwe is clearly biting more than it can chew. We once again advise it to retrace its steps and hold meaningful dialogue with the members of its trade unions for industrial harmony and development of the country," it said.
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