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Zim army 'unleashing terror'
01/05/2008 09:29 - (SA)
Johannesburg - A leading human rights group accused Zimbabwe's government of unleashing its army and ruling-party militants on dissenters, reserving the worst violence for those seen as traitors to President Robert Mugabe.
In a statement on Wednesday, New York-based Human Rights Watch joined other rights groups and Zimbabwe's opposition party in linking violence since last month's presidential vote to the security forces and so-called "war veterans".
An HRW researcher who returned from two weeks in Zimbabwe said the worst violence was in traditional strongholds of Mugabe's party, where voters in recent years have increasingly turned to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
The violence "is a form of punishment of people who turned against the ruling party," Tiseke Kasambala told reporters in Johannesburg on Wednesday. "The government is actually focusing on its strongholds and some of the areas it thinks it should have won."
She also said that in the past four days, HRW had received reports that more than 100 polling station officers - most of them teachers and low-ranking civil servants - had been detained in an eastern province. She described that as another indication the government and its loyalists were targeting those seen as betraying Mugabe.
Mugabe's administration has countered that the opposition groups are responsible for the violence. Attempts to reach Zimbabwean officials for comment on Wednesday were not successful, and Kasambala said she had not yet put her findings to the Zimbabwean government.
'Look in the hospitals'
"They have been claiming they don't have evidence of this violence we've been talking about," she added. "But it's there - in the hospitals."
Mugabe has been accused of using violence and intimidation and plotting fraud to hold onto power after March 29 presidential elections he is believed to have lost.
Results from those elections have yet to be released, and ruling party officials have said a run-off would likely be necessary. Opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai says he won outright; independent observers say Tsvangirai won the most votes, but not the 50% plus one vote needed to avoid a run-off.
Kasambala said she and colleagues interviewed more than 40 people beaten with iron and wooden clubs, burned and stabbed in Harare and interviewed 20 others in rural areas.
"This violence is not only horrific, but it's very well-organised and targeted," Kasambala said.
She said HRW had confirmed two deaths, but was concerned the numbers of dead, injured and displaced could be much higher, particularly in northern, traditionally ruling-party areas she said had been virtually cut off, with military road blocks keeping inhabitants from leaving and outsiders, including humanitarian workers, from entering.
Torture camps
Kasambala said witnesses had seen senior military officials arming civilians and working with war veterans and other ruling-party militants to direct the violence, including setting up torture camps. Witnesses also described soldiers "rampaging" in opposition strongholds in Harare, where an informal curfew was in place, she said.
Kasambala called on the AU and the UN to intervene to protect Zimbabweans.
The opposition - which Kasambala said was in "disarray" in Zimbabwe because of the violence, its senior officials in hiding or jail - has also appealed to African leaders and to the UN for help.
HRW said war veterans were being given guns and trucks by the army and were "collaborating with the army in unleashing a campaign of terror and violence against (opposition) MDC members and supporters".
Kasambala said the arming of civilians could undermine security in Zimbabwe and across the region in the future, though she said its extent was not yet clear.
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