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A Feeding Frenzy of Terror
24th March 2003 Opposition groups and human rights organisations said today that government security forces loyal to the president, Robert Mugabe, have arrested and beaten hundreds of people in response to last week's general strike. Meanwhile, two opposition MPs were arrested and, according to Amnesty International, up to 500 people were being held on allegations that they participated in last week's strike that brought Zimbabwe's economy to a standstill, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change said. Police confirmed 200 arrests, state radio reported. The Zwakwana human rights monitoring group said that Harare emergency wards are treating people for broken bones, bruising and sexual assault after they were beaten with wire whips, iron bars, electrical cords and rifle butts by ruling party militias, uniformed soldiers and police reservists. Witnesses said they saw police and ruling party youth militias taking part in assaults. Staff members at one private clinic said its emergency services treated 200 people. The police had no comment on allegations they had a role in the attacks, but the military denied any involvement through the state media. Speaking last Friday, Mr Mugabe threatened retribution against his government's opponents, saying the strike action was used by the opposition to incite violence. He warned opposition leaders that "those who play with fire will not only be burnt but consumed". The strike was called by the opposition to protest repression by Mugabe's government as well as acute food and gasoline shortages. A statement issued by Amnesty International described deteriorating security conditions and mass arrests in Zimbabwe as "a new and dangerous phase of repression". An opposition spokesman, Paul Themba Nyathi, said troops and militias raided the homes of opposition supporters across Harare over the weekend. He said troops assaulted an MP and two of his aides and that the mother of one activist was sexually assaulted with the barrel of an assault rifle. The opposition MP Roy Bennett said state agents and army troops stormed his farm outside Harare on Thursday and killed a striker accused of rioting and burning a bus. He said the troops also used whips and riot sticks to beat 30 of his workers. An army spokesman, Colonel Ben Ncube, denied the incident occurred. "We have since sent our team to investigate but at the moment we found out there was no such incident," he told the state Herald newspaper. The national strike was the largest protest since Mr Mugabe - brought to power at independence in 1980 - was re-elected for another six-year term last year in elections that observers said were marred by intimidation and vote-rigging. Mr Themba Nyathi said strikes and demonstrations would resume soon if the increasingly authoritarian government does not, "embark on a programme to dismantle the basis of its tyranny". The Guardian - UK |
