Rights groups showed a smuggled video Thursday of hundreds of thousands of poor Zimbabweans living in the open in the winter cold after the government tore down their homes in what it describes as an urban renewal project. At news conferences in Africa and at the United Nations, more than 200 international human rights and civic groups said the campaign, known as Operation Drive Out Trash, was "a grave violation of international human rights law and a disturbing affront to human dignity." Police prevent journalists from filming the demolitions, so the footage was collected clandestinely by the church-based Solidarity Peace Trust.The groups, including London-based Amnesty International and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, released the footage showing bewildered families sleeping in the open in the winter cold after police torched and bulldozed their shanty town homes. Street markets were also targeted, their stalls left in smoldering ruins. Zimbabwe opposition leaders, who have their base among the urban poor, say the monthlong campaign is meant to punish their supporters for voting against the ruling party in recent parliamentary elections. President Robert Mugabe has described Drive Out Trash as an urban renewal campaign.
The Zimbabwean government pledged Thursday to build new houses for those it has made homeless. After a seven-hour meeting of the government's highest policy-making body, Zimbabwe spokesman Ephraim Masawi was quoted on state radio as saying military personnel would lead national and provincial reconstruction committees being formed immediately.
| Norm Geras, perhaps the most honorable and honest Socialist out there today (I'm serious), has a big page on his blog about the agony of Zimbabwe, and has a link to pictures that are heart-wrenching. Damn, but we need a Special Forces team to take out Bob. US, UK, Aussie, whoever's willing. |