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Zimbabwe: Police Swoop On Injured MDC Supporters
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UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
25 April 2008
Posted to the web 25 April 2008
Harare
About 400 people seeking refuge from alleged state-sponsored violence at the opposition party offices of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in the capital, Harare, have been arrested by riot police, according to an IRIN correspondent.
Hundreds of people, including children, have fled to Harare from rural areas, seeking medical attention after the ZANU-PF government launched "Operation Mavhoterapapi" (Who did you vote for?) in the wake of their parliamentary election defeat and an anticipated second round of voting in the presidential ballot.
President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF lost control of parliament after the 29 March poll for the first time since independence from Britain in 1980, while the MDC have claimed that their leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, won the presidential vote by the required 50 percent plus one vote, ruling out the need for a run-off ballot. ZANU-PF have said there was no clear winner in the presidential race, although the results have yet to be announced.
A political analyst who declined to be identified, told IRIN the victims of Operation Mavhoterapapi, including those who sought refuge at the MDC offices, were being portrayed by the state media as the perpetrators of post-election violence and were likely to be charged with public violence.
Hundreds of people were bundled into waiting buses outside of the MDC offices, many of them still bandaged as a result of injuries sustained during alleged assaults by soldiers and police in the rural areas, and taken to Harare's Central Police station. The political analyst said it was likely that ZANU-PF would claim the injuries of those arrested were sustained during attacks perpetrated against ZANU-PF supporters.
The state-controlled daily newspaper, The Herald, reported on 24 April that eight homesteads belonging to ZANU PF-supporters, who were beneficiaries of the government's fast-track land reform programme in 2000, which saw white commercial farms redistributed to landless blacks, were torched by suspected MDC supporters.
MDC supporters contemplate retaliation
Taziva Maponga, 38, of Mudzi in Mashonaland East province, told IRIN: "Most of these perpetrators of violence are people who belong to our communities and are well-known. There is a growing feeling among us as supporters of the MDC that we can't let small groups of people do whatever they want with us. If they continue burning our houses and granaries, we might also have to roast them alive."
The MDC has urged restraint among its supporters, and has said that responding to violent attacks in kind would allow the government to impose a state of emergency.
Churches and civil society fear state-sponsored violence against opposition supporters in the aftermath of the elections will intensify. The MDC claim that at least 10 of their supporters have been killed since the voting and hundreds have been beaten, their houses razed, livestock slaughtered and food reserves plundered.
The Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ), the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference (ZCBC) and the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) said in a statement: "Organised violence perpetrated against individuals, families and communities, who are accused of campaigning or voting for the 'wrong' political party, has been unleashed throughout the country."
The churches said people were being "abducted, tortured and humiliated", and forced to "attend mass meetings where they are told they voted for the 'wrong' candidate" and in some cases murdered.
The church organisations called on the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN) to intervene, and warned that "if nothing is done to help the people of Zimbabwe from their predicament, we shall soon be witnessing genocide".
South African President Thabo Mbeki, appointed in 2007 by SADC to mediate between Mugabe's government and the opposition, was condemned by the international community and civil society for failing to acknowledge the country's crisis, although his own party, the ANC, and its trade union allies, have taken a different stance.
ANC president Jacob Zuma, who deposed Mbeki from the party presidency in a bitter power struggle in December 2007, has called on African leaders to "move in to unlock this logjam", while the country's largest union federation, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), is organising mass demonstrations on 10 May against the "dictatorial Mugabe".
Violence worsens humanitarian situation
The clerics said the post-election violence was exacerbating the "widespread famine" in Zimbabwe, and compounding the severe shortage of basic commodities and medical supplies brought about by an eight-year recession that has seen inflation rise to more 165,000 percent annually.
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MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa told IRIN it was "easy for the humanitarian situation in the country to be worse than during Operation Murambatsvina", a reference to a 2005 blitz that displaced about 700,000 people, according to the UN.
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ZANU-PF must concede defeat. They have lost and even though the Presidential results have not been release they have lost the majority and must concede defeat now. If AU & SADC cant force Mugabe to step down then at least force Zanu to concede defeat. Zanu must recognise MDC as the winner! ZANU are committing political suicide by continued to support a dying regime, One thing about the upcoming generation of Zanu-pf officials must remember is that whatever happens they still have to contest an elections in 5 years time and it will be in a vastly disadvantageous... [Read Full Text]
ZANU committed suicide by delaying the results.
Where in the world are election results delayed for a month ?
Mugabe is NO longer in charge.But the army chiefs who fear for their lives and their corruptly earned wealth.
Mugabe is the GLUE of the corrupt party called ZANU.His departure will mean the party will split into at least 3 factions.
So those who benefit from Mugabe's presence would rather have him RULE till he dies.
Its over and soon Hague will be calling
Yes its true but I really think that Zanu has ceased to be a functional political party its not the movement that it was in the 1980's lost its identity, lost its ideals as well as its relavance to the current generation. It's just a tool for Mugabe to control the country. If we ever going to avoid another version of a ZANU-Mugabe regime situation again, Zimbabwe must have at least an effective second or third major party in the country. This might be jumping the gun discussing this now but there needs to be a balance to whatever party... [Read Full Text]
It is very unpleasant to see someone refering to himself as leader treating his own people in such a manner. The most gegret is the arm of government that should safeguard the country after one generation to the nest are inolved in rape, killing and stealing from their own people. Let them know that Mugabe ime came and it is time for his time to go. The fact is whether they want or not, he time has come to pass and i is now time for him to cope with the trauma. It is a well know fact in Africa... [Read Full Text]
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