Woman's hands, feet hacked off
2008-06-17 22:42
Special Report
A political impasse in Zimbabwe has raised concerns from regional leadership that the situation "could get out of hand".
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe says he doesn't expect the US sanctions on his country to be lifted soon.
Harare - The Pan-African Parliament observer mission, one of only two official observer groups in Zimbabwe before the June 27 run-off presidential election, on Tuesday confirmed that government supporters had hacked off the hands and feet of a woman and then firebombed her house.
"Our team has been to her graveside. She was chopped," said Marwick Khumalo, the head of the observer group. "The man (her husband, Patson Chipiro) is living in fear."
Also on Tuesday night, Haile Menkerios, the United Nations assistant-secretary for political affairs sent by UN secretary-general Ban-Ki Moon to assess the political climate, spent two hours with President Robert Mugabe, according to diplomatic sources.
No details were released after the meeting.
PAP has doubled the number of its observers to 40 since the first round elections on March 29, which set up the run-off between long-serving President Robert Mugabe, who has vowed to hang on to power at all costs, and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
A team from the mission travelled to Mhondoro, 150km south of Harare where, according to confirmed press reports, the 45-year-old woman, Dadirai Chipiro, had her hands and feet hacked off, was then thrown, still alive, into her house, where Zanu-PF youths then hurled a petrol bomb inside and incinerated her.
Violence 'at the top of the agenda'
The PAP team said it was just one of "so many horrendous stories" it had confirmed after only two days in the field.
"That was not the only incident," Khumalo said. He compared it to the relatively peaceful first round of voting in March.
"It is really regrettable that this time around, violence has resurfaced. Now violence is at the top of the agenda of this electoral process," he said.
Sources in the mission said the PAP vehicle was stopped at a roadblock manned by Zanu-PF youths a few kilometres from the burnt-out home, but managed to pass through.
Khumalo condemned remarks in the last week by Mugabe warning that Zanu-PF would "go to war" if he lost to Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change.
"That is unfortunate, it is regrettable," he said.
"Beating the drums of war is not acceptable in any situation, because you know the capacity that violence has in upsetting society." - Sapa-dpa
- SAPA