Zimbabwe’s opposition parties will pull out of South African-brokered talks with the government of President Robert Mugabe if violence against them is not halted, an opposition leader said on Tuesday.
Zimbabweans are still being beaten and killed by Mugabe’s militias despite negotiations between his government and opposition parties, a senior member of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said here.
MDC secretary for international affairs Sekai Holland said the talks brokered by South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki would collapse if the violence didn’t stop.
”As I speak today, another 64-year-old was beaten to death by the same squad that beat me up,” said Holland, a victim of an attack on MDC members in March who is visiting New Zealand at the invitation of the minority Green Party.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai was also beaten during the March attack in Harare.
That attack was widely publicised and led to other African states calling on President Mbeki to initiate talks in a bid to reach agreement on free and fair elections.
”We support the Mbeki initiative … but if Mugabe continues to beat our people up we are pulling out of the talks,” Holland said.
She said the MDC, Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, is calling on the international community to intervene, stop the violence against opposition supporters and recognise the extent of the nation’s humanitarian crisis.
”Everybody knows Zimbabweans are starving to death,” Holland told reporters. ”The situation is disgusting … people suspected of supporting us are being kidnapped, beaten and killed.” ‒ Sapa-AP