Roman Catholic bishops marked Easter Sunday with an unprecedented message to President Robert Mugabe to end oppression and leave office through democratic reform or face a mass revolt. ”The confrontation in our country has now reached a flashpoint,” they said in a pastoral message pinned up at churches throughout the country.
The economic chaos engulfing Zimbabwe has turned even a mundane task such as renting a car into an unachievable dream for the average law-abiding citizen. A car-rental company has quoted a day rate of the equivalent of a staggering R19 600 per day — plus a deposit of R712 600 — at the official exchange rate.
Zimbabwe’s state media ratcheted up its attacks on Western diplomats accused of supporting government opponents on Tuesday with an apparent death threat against British embassy political officer Gillian Dare. ”It will be a pity for her family to welcome her home at Heathrow airport in a body bag,” wrote David Samuriwo in the Herald.
Zimbabwean police and troops fanned out through impoverished townships on Tuesday on the first day of a two-day national strike called to protest deepening economic hardships blamed on the government. Four trucks carrying soldiers were seen headed to the southern town of Chitungwiza, 25km from Harare.
Nine opposition activists who were to be arraigned on charges of attempted murder and illegal weapons possession all required medical attention for injuries sustained since their arrests, doctors said. One of the activists collapsed in the courthouse, and the judge agreed to lawyers’ appeals to adjourn Saturday’s hearing and allow them to get medical treatment.
A police crackdown in Zimbabwe moved into well-to-do residential suburbs in the nation’s capital where scores of teenagers were detained in a raid on a popular disco, witnesses said on Sunday. Some of the teenagers were hit with riot batons and slapped by paramilitary police who said they were clamping down on alleged underage drinking, witnesses said.
Zimbabwe’s ruling party endorsed President Robert Mugabe as its candidate in presidential elections next year, papering over internal divisions about the country’s economic meltdown and shrugging off international criticism of the clampdown on opposition activists.
Zimbabwe’s foreign minister told Western diplomats on Monday they would be expelled if they gave financial or diplomatic support to government opponents. Pressuring diplomats would make it even harder for the international community to keep tabs on a government accused of repressing its people and ruining its economy.
Police assaulted and tortured Zimbabwe’s most prominent opposition leader after breaking up a protest prayer meeting, leaving him with deep gashes on his head and shoulders, colleagues said on Monday. Lawyers reported that Morgan Tsvangirai fainted three times after being beaten by police.
Investigators are looking at a host of factors that could have led to Tuesday’s bus-train collision in Zimbabwe that killed 35 people. The bus had been speeding, carrying double its passenger capacity, and the driver was underage.