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Pressure mounts on Zimbabwe amid fresh violence claims
HARARE
Petroleumworld.com, May 9, 2008Pressure mounted on Zimbabwe Thursday to admit foreign observers to oversee a presidential election run-off amid fresh claims pro-government militias were instilling terror in the countryside.
As the opposition alleged 30 supporters had now been killed and a union chief said 40,000 farmworkers and their dependents made homeless, authorities played down the levels of violence.
Meanwhile, six days since results from an inconclusive March 29 presidential poll were announced, there was still no word on when a second round would take place. Nor was it clear that the opposition Movement for Democratic Change would participate.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who believes he secured an overall majority over veteran President Robert Mugabe in the first round, has argued his rival is trying to spread fear in the population to ensure victory in a run-off.
In its latest death toll, the MDC said it now had information that 30 supporters had been killed by Mugabe supporters in attacks in rural areas.
"What is worrying is that each day comes with gory stories of how human beings are being treated," said MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa.
"This is why we are appealing on bended knees to the international community to assist in ending the carnage."
In a press conference in South Africa, the leader of a Zimbabwe farmworkers' union said that 40,000 people had been driven off their land either as a result of direct attacks by militias or through fear.
"Since the elections we have recorded a total of 40,000 people who have been displaced," said Gertrude Hambira, general secretary of the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe.
"They have been accused of voting for the opposition. Most of them are either on the roadside or sheltering at some farms."
Hambira said it was no coincidence militias were targeting rural areas, traditional strongholds for Mugabe but where he did worse than expected on polling day.
International disquiet however is growing, with UN chief Ban Ki-moon calling for international observers to oversee the run-off and the White House pressuring Mugabe and his supporters to put an end to the violence.
Gordon Brown, prime minister of former colonial power Britain, has asked for the run-off to be "monitored by the whole international community".
In a statement, Ban said "future stages of the electoral process must be conducted in a peaceful, credible and transparent manner in the presence of international observers" while also voicing concern about violence.
US national security council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Mugabe and his supporters needed "to refrain from (violence and intimidation) against those who are supporting the opposition."
Further evidence of restrictions placed on the media also surfaced on Thursday with news of the detention of a local newspaper editor and a photographer from news agency Reuters.
Later Thursday, Reuters said that police had released its photographer, Zimbabwean national Howard Burditt, on bail, having held him for three days.
A number of rights groups have accused Zimbabwean security forces of complicity in attacks since the elections, but the army has denied the allegations against it.
In comments in the state-run Herald newspaper on Thursday, police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena also cast doubt on the MDC's claims about the numbers of dead.
He said three of the cases were unfounded while others were being investigated.
The run-off election should in theory take place on May 24 but it is becoming an increasingly distant prospect.
The electoral commission has indicated the deadline will be missed and the head of a South African observer mission has said the country is too violent to hold an election.
According to results released last Friday by the commission, Tsvangirai fell just short of an overall majority needed to avoid a run-off. His party insists the figures were doctored to save Mugabe from an outright, first-round defeat.
The 84-year-old, Africa's oldest leader, has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980.
Zimbabwe has been in economic meltdown since 2000 when Mugabe embarked on a programme of land reforms which saw thousands of white-owned farms expropriated.
Story by Susan Njanji from AFP
AFP 08 1925 GMT 05 08Copyright© 2008 respective author or news agency. All rights reserved.
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