| Submit your comments on this article |
| Africa Subsaharan |
| Political Carnage Continues in Zimbabwe |
| 2008-07-24 |
| Although Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party has agreed to talks with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change on a possible power sharing arrangement, the country's political violence and intimidation continue. ZANU-PF militia are still patrolling vast parts of the country. Several legislators, who have returned to Harare from hiding places in Zimbabwe and in neighboring countries, say the mood in the country is tense. They say they dare not go to their homes for fear of being arrested. About 20 winning MDC legislators have been arrested since the elections in March. One legislator from the eastern Manicaland Province, who spent three weeks in detention recently and asked not to be identified, said members of the ZANU-PF militia are asking for money from people who fled during post-election violence and now want to return home. He said those who have returned have found their assets, such as food and livestock, were taken after the elections. A parliament member from the Mashonaland East Province, a ZANU-PF stronghold where many voted for the first time for the MDC - said militias still control people's movements in and out of villages. An MDC legislator in Mutare, Pishai Muchauraya, said his officials are searching for many people listed as missing. MDC branch chairman Reuben Mutewe, 38, from Manicaland Province, who was abducted from his home June 30, was found in the mortuary at the Mutare General Hospital last Friday. Muchauraya says they have still not found the body of activist Emmanuel Nyapfungwe, who he says was allegedly murdered June 20 in Manicaland Province. |
| Posted by:Fred |