Another Sad Day In Zimbabwe

[Shirleypal]

Independent.co.uk
Global net closes on Mugabe's gang
By Daniel Howden
Thursday, 10 July 2008


The net was tightening last night around the leading figures in the Mugabe regime as the United Nations identified the key individuals it blames for the current crisis in Zimbabwe.


A draft UN resolution named Robert Mugabe and 13 of his henchmen as the main culprits behind the campaign of violence in which scores of opposition supporters have been raped and murdered, and hopes of democratic salvation for the southern African nation have been wrecked.

The men named by the UN include generals, such as the army chief, Constantine Chiwenga, who is credited with persuading Mr Mugabe to launch a military campaign against the opposition rather than negotiate an exit package in the wake of his defeat in the first round of elections in March.

Hopes for a tough response from the UN were in the balance last night despite the apparent agreement from G8 leaders to push for targeted sanctions. A pitched battle has been under way since Tuesday at the UN Security Council as the United States and Britain sought to force a showdown over Zimbabwe. South Africa has been holding the line at the 15-nation council against measures including an international arms embargo, as well as travel bans and asset freezes targeting each of the 14 named individuals.

It was unclear whether London and Washington had the votes to win the battle as one British diplomat close to the effort said it was "touch and go whether we get them". The uncertainty was added to by the Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, who went half way to meeting the West's demands in Japan by signing up to the G8 statement promising to punish the culprits in Zimbabwe, but then stopped short of supporting UN sanctions.

In an unlikely twist, the West African nation of Burkina Faso has found itself in the diplomatic spotlight. The second poorest country in the world, it has a UN vote as a temporary member of the council and has so far resisted pressure to back sanctions. Zimbabwe's Foreign Minister, Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, was in Burkina yesterday lobbying against a UN vote.

Mr Mugabe's inner circle, named in the draft resolution, has each amassed personal fortunes while overseeing the steepest collapse of a peacetime economy ever recorded. The draft resolution accuses them of "undermining the democratic process" and having "ordered, planned, or participated in" the campaign of political terror that has killed more than 100 people, displaced 200,000 and made the country an international pariah.

South Africa argued that punitive action would undermine mediation but this approach was rejected by Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change. "These are not sanctions against Zimbabwe," said Ian Makoni, a senior MDC official. "They're against individuals guilty of crimes against humanity."

South Africa was also attempting to block efforts to appoint a UN special envoy to Zimbabwe, fearing this would undermine its President, Thabo Mbeki, and his role as regional mediator. He has been fiercly criticised for the apparent failure of "quiet diplomacy" and there have been open calls for his replacement as mediator from the MDC who accuse him of sheltering the Mugabe regime.

Zimbabwe's government responded to the mounting pressure with an outburst of anti-colonial rhetoric against the West for preparing sanctions.

Mr Mumbengegwi said: "Zimbabwe has had free and fair elections... We can't receive instructions from our former colonial masters. We are an independent country and we will never, never go back to being a colony."

Named and shamed: the 13 henchmen identified by the UN

HAPPYTON BONYONGWE

Head of the spy agency, the CIO. Although widely regarded as a restraining influence on the excesses of his colleagues, his job has put him in the front line of activities against Mugabe's opponents. His men have been responsible for the abduction and murder of opposition supporters.

CONSTANTINE CHIWENGA

Commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces. Vowed to mount an official coup should Mugabe ever hand over to Morgan Tsvangirai. His wife, Jocelyn, has led farm invasions and once declared: "I am itching to spill white blood." She runs a company that sells military gear to the army.

EMMERSON MNANGAGWA

Cabinet minister and Mugabe's most trusted lieutenant. Masterminded murder of tens of thousands in the 1980s Matabeleland massacres. Named in UN report for looting Congo cash from United Merchant Bank.

PERENCE SHIRI

Air force chief. A relative of Mugabe, Shiri was in charge of a North Korean trained unit which did the actual killings in Matabeleland. He trains Mugabe's notorious militias and is known to personally conduct torture sessions.

AUGUSTINE CHIHURI

Police chief. Credited with converting Zimbabwe's police force into armed wing of the ruling party. Led the 2006 urban slum clearance campaign that left one million homeless. Ordered police not to arrest Zanu members but instead arrest MDC officials who file violence reports.

PARADZAI ZIMONDI

Director of prisons. Told members of security agencies not supporting Mugabe they would be regarded as traitors and be rewarded with death. Also ensured prison officers cast ballots for Mugabe.

GIDEON GONO

Reserve Bank head. Close friend of Mugabe, with whom he frequently holidays in Malaysia, Gono is also Mugabe's personal banker and the man who knows where the stolen millions are stashed. He has funded the current political terror campaign.

PATRICK CHINAMASA

Justice Minister. Described by peers in the legal profession as Zimbabwe's most incompetent lawyer, Chinamasa has hounded out independent judges and stuffed the bench with Mugabe cronies. In charge of death squads currently on a killing spree in his rural home of Manicaland.

DIDYMUS MUTASA

State Security minister. Infamously declared he would rather see the death of six million people who support the opposition and remain with only those who support Mugabe. He is in joint charge of the spy agency, the CIO.

GEORGE CHARAMBA

Mugabe's spokesman. Has overseen purging of all state media of journalists critical of the regime and enforced draconian laws against the independent media.

SYDNEY SEKERAMAYI

Minister of Defence. Has been travelling the world, mainly to Asia, to source weapons used in the siege of terror against the opposition. Has organised training of Mugabe's violent ruling party militias by the army and police.

JOSEPH MADE

Minister of farm mechanisation. Credited with destroying Zimbabwe's commercial agricultural sector. He says he would rather see the last remaining farm in Zimbabwe in black hands, even if they cannot farm. Mugabe's own personal farm manager.

DAVID PARIRENYATWA

Minister of Health in country with lowest life expectancy in the world. Cited by WHO for failing to provide adequate drinking water.

[Shirleypal]

Mercenaries join Mugabe's ruthless terror campaign
By Ian Evans and a Special Correspondent in Manicaland
Tuesday, 15 July 2008

Foreign mercenaries have joined so-called "war veterans" and militiamen attacking opposition supporters in rural parts of Zimbabwe, human rights workers have confirmed.

Eyewitnesses say the men are more vicious than their Zimbabwean counterparts, with the marauding gangs attacking suspected members of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), forcing them to renounce the party.

They dress in army fatigues, carry Russian-made guns and are accompanied by interpreters when out with the militias.

Patrick Chitaka, the MDC chairman in Manicaland province in the east of the country, said the foreigners had been identified in the past two to three weeks supporting government-backed men.

Mr Chitaka said: "We have observed that some of the people leading the violence are foreigners because they speak a different language and they do not understand our local languages.

"Also the tactics they are using are not peculiar with Zimbabweans because they are cutting out the tongue, removing eyes and genital parts. We are not sure where they come from."

It is the first time reports of foreigners fighting alongside Zanu-PF have surfaced. Since losing the presidential vote on 29 March, Robert Mugabe and an inner circle of military and intelligence chiefs have launched a military campaign of violence against opposition areas which voted against him and his party.

More than 100 people have been killed, thousands injured and more than 200,000 displaced as gangs target one-time MDC strongholds.

The claims were supported by human rights workers in Manicaland last night. A spokesman for one group who did not want to be named said observers on the ground had witnessed "tens, if not hundreds" of foreigners accompanying government-backed militias. He said the soldiers were not from neighbouring countries but were more likely from farther north in Africa, possibly Rwanda, Kenya or Uganda.

Local people claim the irregular forces are Hutus from Rwanda, but the human rights representative said he could not be definitive. There are an estimated 4,000 Hutu refugees living in Zimbabwe, some of whom took part in the genocide of Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 1994.

Many fled the country, seeking asylum after the killings, which destabilised neighbouring countries especially the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The human rights official said: "These men do not speak any local languages and are extremely violent. They are attacking people in their homes and as they get off buses, giving them terrible beatings. We do not know what these people are doing in Zimbabwe. There is a problem identifying these people. You cannot go to the police because they say it is political – they are not interested."

The spokesman said observers in two constituencies – Makoni South and Makoni West – west of Zimbabwe's third city of Mutare, had calculated there were up to 200 foreigners spread across both areas.

"There are between six and 10 foreigners in each base, and there are 20 Zanu bases in the two constituencies. They wear military uniform, carry guns especially shotguns which we think are Russian. They are cruel and brutal. Each unit has an interpreter who tells them what to do. People here live close to several borders and they know Portuguese from Mozambique and languages from Malawi and Zambia. They don't speak any of those or English.

"The tongues are from much farther up north – Kenya, Uganda or Rwanda."

Mr Chitaka added: "People are very scared of them because they know no bounds. They go house-to-house in MDC areas and beat people and force them to shout for Zanu-PF. The men then get their victims to beat their neighbours in the same way.

"They have gang-raped women and abducted them. People are missing but families are too afraid to look for them."

Rwandan refugees fear they may be sent home if an MDC-led government came to power. Despite internationally backed efforts to rehabilitate Hutu refugees, fears remain among exiles that those returning will face persecution from the government of President Paul Kagame.

Among those Hutus staying in Zimbabwe is said to be Protais Mpiranya, the former head of the Rwandan presidential guard during the 1994 genocide. He is on the wanted list of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, but is suspected to have strong business links with senior Zimbabwe army officers.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' representative in Zimbabwe, Marcellin Hepie, said a change of government would not necessarily see repatriation of refugees.

Oppression by numbers

*115 Movement for Democratic Change supporters killed in attacks by police, army, war veterans and ruling party militia

*More than 200,000 displaced by the violence since the elections on 29 March

*Three million at risk of starvation after ejection of aid agencies by government

*1,450 documented cases of state-sponsored beatings, torture or assault of opposition supporters

*Inflation now running at two million per cent. There are 350bn Zimbabwe dollars to the pound

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 67620.html

[MAD]

MDC wins Zimbabwe parliament vote

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7580366.stm

"The candidate of Zimbabwe's opposition MDC has been elected speaker of parliament, after MPs were sworn in following elections five months ago.

MDC chairman Lovemore Moyo becomes the first opposition speaker since the country's independence in 1980.

As the MPs arrived for the ceremony, two MDC law-makers were arrested, a party spokesman said.

President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF did not field a candidate for the vote, but backed a rival MDC faction.

The BBC's Karen Allen says this was a tactic to try and engineer control of parliament, which has backfired. "