Zimbabwe opposition allege beatings, threats
Activists say people are detained in bush camps, where they're tortured, and that pro-Mugabe forces have burned the homes of opposition supporters to pressure them to back the president in a runoff.
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA — Opposition supporters say they have been beaten by agents of the Zimbabwean military in recent weeks and that some activists have been abducted and taken to paramilitary bush camps for interrogation.
A leader of the Movement for Democratic Change said Sunday that 10 activists had been killed since the national elections March 29, and that scores had disappeared.
Witnesses interviewed over the last week by phone described dozens of camps coordinated by senior military officers and operated mainly by war veterans and ruling party youth. Others described MDC supporters' homes being burned, children and the elderly beaten, and victims warned to stay away from hospitals because the facilities "belonged" to President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.
The allegations could not be independently verified, in part because foreign reporters are not being allowed into Zimbabwe. But numerous witnesses interviewed independently offered similar accounts in different villages.
On Saturday, Human Rights Watch reported that "torture camps" had been set up in rural areas. The U.S.-based rights group said it had interviewed 30 people who had suffered serious injuries after beatings at the camps.
According to the witnesses interviewed by The Times, entire communities have been forced to attend political meetings in rural areas that had switched to the opposition MDC in the recent voting. MDC activists were severely beaten by soldiers and ZANU-PF youth, the witnesses said. Villagers were also warned to not vote MDC in an expected runoff for the presidency in coming weeks.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who has fled Zimbabwe, asserts that he won the presidential race outright and says the recount ordered of 23 parliamentary seats is illegal and allows for electoral fraud. Mugabe, 84, has held power since 1980 and claims Britain is trying to recolonize Zimbabwe through the MDC.
With food desperately scarce in rural areas, many opposition activists are also being denied access to the staple maize, which is distributed through a state monopoly. An MDC activist in the Mutoko area said he was told the maize was now being handed out only through newly elected ruling party lawmakers. Other activists also reported widespread hunger in the areas being targeted.
Dozens of opposition activists are in hiding or, like Tsvangirai, have left Zimbabwe.
- Zimbabwe Election Set Mar 04, 1990
- Mugabe Assails U.S., British Sanctions Threat Dec 19, 2001
- Zimbabwe hopes hinge on regional Africa meeting Aug 15, 2008
