Zimbabwe's campaign of violence escalates

The international community seeks to influence the Mugabe government as Army leaders orchestrate political attacks.

from the June 10, 2008 edition

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The political violence comes at a time when the country is heading rapidly toward economic collapse, with falling food production and an estimated 600,000 percent inflation. A loaf of bread currently costs 1 billion Zimbabwe dollars (or about US$5), and salaries have not kept pace. Heightening concern is the decision last week by Zimbabwe to ban aid agencies such as CARE and Oxfam, which distribute food to the country's most vulnerable communities.

"We are deeply concerned at this development," said Charles Abani, Oxfam's director in Southern Africa, in a statement. "A lot of people are completely reliant on food aid to keep them alive."

Authoritative sources in the military and ZANU-PF say that the national Army is behind Mugabe's brutal campaign because the octogenarian could not trust his inner circle to spearhead it. Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since the country's independence from Britain in 1980, is also the commander in chief of the armed forces.

"It was noted at a JOC (Joint Operation Command) meeting soon after the March election that without using force, Mugabe cannot win an election," a senior official of the ruling ZANU-PF party told the Monitor in Harare. "This is why the party has employed soldiers, war veterans, and youth militia."

He says that the ZANU-PF strategy is to displace all MDC activists and supporters from the rural areas and instill fear into the hearts of those in town so that they do not vote. "You will see on the [election] day that all polling stations in rural areas will be manned only by people loyal to ZANU-PF because no MDC supporter will dare going there."

Reminded that there will be an outcry from local and international observers, he said, "Even if they [observers] come, there won't be any difference now because the damage has already been done. People are afraid to go to the rural areas."

University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer Eldred Masunungure says that it is now impossible to hold free and fair elections, because Zimbabwe has been turned into "a murder zone." He describes Mugabe's strategy as a "comprehensive onslaught" on all dissenting voices "to produce one outcome, a predetermined outcome which is a victory for ZANU-PF and its candidate Robert Mugabe."

MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa dismisses widespread rumors that the MDC and ZANU-PF were in high-level talks aimed at a power-sharing government including both sides. "Talking is best demonstrated by behavior on the ground," says Mr. Chamisa. "There are no talks going on and I want to bury that speculation.... How can we talk when our people are being killed?"

Masunungure concurred: "I don't see them talking under the present political environment. If they are talking, it's exploratory rather than substantive."

• A reporter who could not be named for security reasons contributed to this story from Harare.

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