22 November 2008
AS many as 50 people could have died and hundreds more injured during the ongoing army and police operations to flush out illegal diamond miners in the Chiadzwa area of Manicaland, human rights activists warned last week.
Several unidentified bodies of people allegedly shot at Chiadzwa were piling up in mortuaries in and around Mutare, rights activists told The Standard.
The soldiers, who are leading the operation codenamed Hakudzokwi (you won't return), were deployed after the police were accused of working in cahoots with the illegal diamond panners, popularly known as Magweja.
The crack team of soldiers, sources said, also includes operatives from the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) and the police support unit. A senior health official at Mutare General Hospital said scores of people including children were being treated at the hospital for gunshots, dog bites or deep wounds inflicted through severe torture.
The hospital is the major referral health centre in Manicaland.
"I think we have received over 50 bodies at this mortuary since August but some of them were claimed," said an official who requested anonymity.
Soldiers have also invaded the eastern border town of Mutare, raiding homes of people they suspect of buying diamonds from the illegal panners.
They are also confiscating people's property, mostly vehicles, arguing that they were acquired using proceeds from illegal diamond dealings.
Former Manicaland provincial prosecutor, Levi Chikafu, said he has seen several people losing their property to the marauding soldiers.
"They are looting people's properties here," he said. "I know of one businessman who has lost a fleet of vehicles. It's so sad."
The soldiers reportedly abduct the suspected diamond buyers in Mutare and areas around Chiadzwa and torture them. After the torture sessions, the panners are taken to the diamond fields where they are forced to fill up gullies and pits with bare hands.
Trust Maanda, a Mutare-based member of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, described the operation as "a gross violation of human rights".
"The police are abducting people in Mutare before handing them over to soldiers in Chiadzwa where they are being tortured," he said. "They are confiscating any car they suspect was bought using proceeds from the sale of diamonds without any shred of evidence."
Zimbabwe National Army spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Simon Tsatsi refused to comment on the deaths saying police were in charge of the operation in Chiadzwa.
"We are under the police at the moment because it is not a war situation," he said. "We are just helping out. Ask Bvudzijena (Senior Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena) he may assist you."
Bvudzijena dismissed reports the police were killing innocent people saying they were only trying to stop illegal diamond dealing in the area.
"I don't have reports of people being killed in Chiadzwa," he said. "We will however issue a full report after the operation."
He did not say when the operation would be concluded.
But Chikafu said: "What is happening is illegal. When a police officer shoots a civilian an IR (inquiry report) should be opened to establish the reason behind the shooting but nothing of this sort is happening."
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