Zimbabwe’s main rights group accused the government on Tuesday of unleashing violence to help President Robert Mugabe cling to power as the wait for election results stretched into a second month.
While the United Nations Security Council prepared to meet in New York to discuss the post-election crisis in the Southern African nation, Mugabe’s regime warned it would crack down on violence and not let ”anarchy” prevail.
Meanwhile, lawyers for the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) were trying to bring contempt of court proceedings against the police and government as about 200 of its supporters remained behind bars.
Although the MDC did wrest control of Parliament from Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party when Zimbabwe went to the polls on March 29, there has still been no word from the electoral commission on the outcome of the simultaneous presidential poll.
Based on the party’s own calculations, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has declared himself as the outright victor without the need for a run-off against 84-year-old Mugabe.
However, Mugabe’s party says that neither man won more than 50% and that a second round is inevitable.
The marathon wait has been accompanied by a steady rise in violence, which the country’s leading human rights organisation argued in a new report on Tuesday was designed to intimidate voters.
Kucaca Phulu, chairperson of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association, said his organisation had compiled numerous incidents of violence and destruction of property in the election aftermath.
”What we are witnessing constitutes a form of rigging,” he told a press conference.
”We don’t know what’s the fate of the presidential elections results and our fear is that if there is a re-run, what is of grave concern is that all these displaced people will not be able to return to their home areas to vote.
”This highlights just a tip of the iceberg of what’s happening in our country. We are calling on the authorities to nip the problem of violence and do so without fear or favour.”
The MDC says that 15 of its supporters have been killed by followers of Mugabe’s own Zanu-PF party since the country held a general election exactly a month ago, the full results of which are still to be released.
The government, however, has denied that Zanu-PF has been responsible for any of the violence and instead says the MDC is the only guilty party.
Mugabe’s chief spokesperson, George Charamba, released a statement on Tuesday in which he accused the opposition of deliberately stirring up tensions.
”There is a flurry of distortions and irresponsible statements [which] are … vainly calculated to heighten tension to spark incidents of politically motivated crimes around the country,” said George Charamba.
Police and the army would use any force deemed necessary to ”discourage acts that could lead to anarchy”, he added.
The violence has added to international concerns about the situation in Zimbabwe, with the Security Council due to receive a briefing from the UN secretariat later in the day.
In a statement released over the weekend, Louise Arbour, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said she had received reports of acts of violence, including serious human rights violations.
”I am particularly concerned about reports of threats, intimidation, abuse and violence directed against NGOs, election monitors, human rights defenders and other representatives of civil society,” Arbour said.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said it was vital that the Security Council recognise that the violence ”is a threat to regional peace and security” and consider targeted sanctions against those responsible.
”Government-sponsored violence in Zimbabwe continues to surge with no end in sight, leaving ordinary Zimbabweans without protection,” said HRW’s Africa director, Georgette Gagnon. — AFP
