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US 'sceptical' on Zim mediation
03/04/2007 07:27 - (SA)
Terry Leonard
Harare - A wave of state-orchestrated violence continues unabated in Zimbabwe, despite an admission by President Robert Mugabe to southern African counterparts that his security forces were overreacting, the US ambassador to Zimbabwe said on Monday.
US ambassador Christopher Dell said presidents from southern African countries meeting last week behind closed doors in Tar Es Salaam, Tanzania, told Mugabe his police had been excessive in beating and torturing government opponents.
The summit called last Thursday by the Southern African Development Community appointed President Thabo Mbeki to mediate a solution to Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis, Dell said in a telephone interview from Zimbabwe's capital, Harare,
However, Dell said he was "sceptical about the prospects of this initiative leading to anything like a positive outcome," considering the past performance of Mbeki's "quiet diplomacy" with Zimbabwe.
SADC criticised Mugabe
Citing sources at the meeting, Dell said the presidents had been hard on Mugabe. "He was criticised in particular for the police using violence inside the police stations," Dell said, referring to the March 11 beatings and torture of opposition Movement for Democratic Reform activists, including opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
But the presidents' failure to make their criticism public showed the limit of the South African Development Community's ability to play a constructive goal.
"None of this means anything if in public they are going to say nothing and thereby let him control the story," Dell said. "So he came out of the meeting and claimed total victory and nobody dared to contradict him."
Dell said that, based on information from his sources at the meeting, Mugabe acknowledged that his security forces had overreacted, especially in beating Tsvangirai.
Violence continues
The US ambassador also said that, "as far as we are aware, the wave of state-orchestrated violence - including abductions, beatings, torture and the unconfirmed but possible killings of MDC activists - continues unabated".
Nine people arrested last week in police raids on opposition headquarters and activists' homes were hospitalised after being beaten while in custody over the weekend, Dell said, noting the alleged abuses took place after the meeting of presidents in Tanzania.
"The state has clearly unleashed its thugs and sort of given them licence to follow their worst instincts," Dell said.
- AP
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