Zimbabwe accused opposition supporters on Thursday of waging a militia-style campaign of violence against the government, amid rising world condemnation of President Robert Mugabe’s latest crackdown on dissent.
Police officials said three officers had been badly hurt in a petrol-bomb attack in the capital, Harare, late on Tuesday, telling state media the opposition’s ”orgy of violence was spreading” in the Southern African nation.
”These actions are synchronised by people with resources and are happening throughout the country,” police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena said.
”We believe that the attacks are assuming a militia-type of form,” he added. State television showed pictures of badly burnt officers receiving medical care in hospital after their house at a police post went up in flames.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the country’s main opposition group, dismissed the charges as an effort by Mugabe to deflect a growing chorus of criticism following a crackdown on an anti-government rally on Sunday.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, one of scores of opposition figures arrested at the banned protest, remained in hospital with head wounds that he said resulted from a police beating.
MDC officials said Tsvangirai suffered a suspected fractured skull. Other protesters received similar injuries.
”Tsvangirai is still in hospital and recovering. He might appear tomorrow [Friday] at a press conference we are planning, but he might not speak,” MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said after being released from a hospital where he himself had been treated.
Chamisa said allegations that opposition supporters had launched a violent campaign against Mugabe’s 27-year rule were designed to justify the ”madness and brutality” of the government and soil the reputation of its opponents.
Crisis prompts condemnation
The unrest this week has drawn attention to a deepening political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe, where inflation has passed 1 700%, unemployment and poverty are rising and there are chronic shortages of foreign currency, food and fuel.
Mugabe (83) has further fuelled tensions by suggesting he may seek to stay on as president beyond the scheduled end of his current term in 2008.
The United States is among those that have sharply condemned the arrests, threatening to tighten sanctions on Mugabe and other top officials.
Australia called on African countries to support tougher action against Zimbabwe. ”The fact is the situation in Zimbabwe is going from awful to catastrophic,” Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told Australian radio.
In the first concrete diplomatic initiative following this week’s clashes, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete arrived in Harare on Thursday for talks with Mugabe.
Tanzania is one of a ”troika” of countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) charged with seeking to resolve Zimbabwe’s long-running crisis.
”He has come for consultations with the President. He is going to get a briefing on developments here in his capacity as chairperson of [the] SADC organ on defence and security,” a senior government official said as the two leaders began talks. — Reuters