More than 46 000 held in Zim

2005-06-23 23:13

Harare - More than 46nbsp;000 people have been arrested in Zimbabwe since the start last month of a controversial clean-up campaign by police aimed at stamping out crime and destroying shacks, state television reported on Thursday.

The operation, dubbed Restore Order, was launched in mid-May.

It started with the arrest of flea-market vendors and others considered to be engaging in illegal activities, such as black-market foreign-currency deals.

The police have also destroyed backyard shacks and cottages built without official permission.

Independent estimates said more than 300 000 people had been made homeless.

State television reported: "Illegal dealings in foreign currency have also been unearthed [by the police blitz], leading to the arrest of more than 46 000 people since the beginning of the operation."

Many of those arrested have already been released after being fined or taken to court.

Earlier on Thursday, President Robert Mugabe said his government said they supported the shack demolitions.

He said the shacks had served as "notorious criminal hideouts and havens for black-market activities."

He was speaking at a graduation ceremony for more than 300 new police recruits in the capital, Harare.

Mugabe's endorsement of the police campaign came as Amnesty International and more than 200 other international human-rights groups condemned the police action and called for the United Nations and the African Union to pressure Harare into stopping it.

The opposition in Zimbabwe has described Operation Restore Order as an effort to target opponents to the government. - Sapa-dpa

- SAPA