UN food agencies estimate 3-million of the 13-million population in Zimbabwe will face starvation by June.
Three journalists were last week arrested for reporting the government imported Israeli anti-riot equipment in anticipation of worsening food shortages and civil unrest.
Israel confirmed the sale of water cannons, chemical additives and other riot control equipment.
Meanwhile, police charged six opposition activists on Monday on allegations they plotted against the government, their lawyer said.
The activists, arrested on Sunday in the provincial town of Chinhoyi, 115 kilometres northwest of Harare, were charged under a subversion clause in new security laws that carry a penalty of up to 20 years in jail without the option of a fine, lawyer Tapiwa Muchineripi said.
In a separate incident, four white farmers, detained on Saturday near Chinhoyi, were also charged under the same clause, the Commercial Farmers Union said.
It was the first time charges of subversion by ”coercing or attempting to coerce the government” have been used since the laws were passed in January. Coercion includes threats against the state or the actual use of ”violence, boycotts, civil disobedience or resistance.”
Muchineripi said Silas Matamisa, the provincial chairman of the Movement for Democratic Change, his deputy and four others were released on Monday to be summoned to court at a later date.
They were accused of plotting against the government with unidentified white farmers in their district at a secret meeting on the outskirts of Chinhoyi on April 24.
The four farmers, whose alleged crimes were evidently not linked to those of the opposition officials, were also freed to be summoned to court later, the union said.
The farmers denied holding an illegal or subversive meeting in the Lion’s Den area, 25 kilometres from Chinhoyi, on April 6 as alleged by police.
The charges came a day after the opposition announced plans for a campaign of civil disobedience and mass action to unseat longtime ruler President Robert Mugabe, declared the winner in disputed presidential elections in March.
The opposition and independent human rights groups blame ruling party militants backed by the state for most political violence that has wracked the nation since March 2000. The opposition has demanded a rerun of the polls, citing many international observers’ disquiet over intimidation and alleged vote rigging.
Mugabe on Saturday vowed to crush protests or mass action to oust him by opponents supported by Britain, the former colonial power, and whites.
”If called upon by the demands of the situation to do something, we will do it effectively,” he said. Zimbabwe is becoming increasingly volatile as famine looms due to farm disruptions in Mugabe’s program to seize white-owned land and erratic rains. – Sapa-AP