Zimbabwe: Humanitarian Operations Curtailed By Violence
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"When Blacks take charge of their own affairs ..."
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http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=4315
Zimbabwe: Humanitarian Operations Curtailed By Violence
Race; Posted on: 2008-04-21
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Whites Flee 'Massive' Zimbabwean Election Violence
http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=4133
by UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=4163
Zimbabwe's post-election violence is hampering the activities of humanitarian
organisations and making the country's already dire food situation even more
precarious. One-third of the population, or about four million people, are
receiving food aid.
An official of the National Association of Non-governmental Organisations
(NANGO), an umbrella body for humanitarian and civil organisations, who
declined to be identified, told IRIN they were "concerned that post-election
violence is brazenly denying people access to already scarce food ... It is
becoming very difficult for humanitarian workers to get out there and extend
food to needy communities."
Zimbabwe is expecting another poor harvest after incessant early rains were
followed by a prolonged dry spell this season, coupled with a shortage of
agricultural inputs and the under-utilisation of farming land by resettled
farmers, all being compounded by an upswing in political violence.
The areas hardest hit by political violence, the NANGO official said, were
rural communities in the districts of Mutoko, Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe and
Dande, in Mashonaland Central Province in northern Zimbabwe. These were once
political strongholds of the ruling ZANU, but had backed candidates of the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in the elections on 29 March.
The official said there were "many other disturbing cases", and cited
incidents of political violence in Mashonaland East Province, in the northeast
of the country, as well as in the Mutasa and Rusape districts in Manicaland
Province, in eastern Zimbabwe.
"Some of our members have told us it is now risky to continue with operations
in violence-prone areas. Any contact with communities can be perceived as
political, and that becomes dangerous when the government has banned rallies,"
she said.
"For instance, a child rights organisation reported that their meeting with
village heads in Rusape became tense because there were people who thought
that the use of the term 'rights' meant that the NGO [non-governmental
organisation] was out to campaign for the opposition."
"Operation Mavhoterapapi" (Who did you vote?)
Veterans of Zimbabwe's liberation war, the youth militia of President Robert
Mugabe's ZANU party, and soldiers have reportedly established bases in the
country's rural areas, where they are assaulting alleged opposition supporters
as part of "Operation Mavhoterapapi" (Who did you vote?).
According to victims of the operation, it is a strategy to flush out those who
campaigned for the MDC ahead of an expected second round of voting in the
presidential elections, although the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has
yet to publish the results of the first round.
The MDC claims its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, won the first round of voting by
the required 50 percent plus one vote, and that a second round of voting is
unnecessary, but Mugabe's party, ZANU, claims there was no outright winner.
The ZEC, whose functionaries are appointed by Mugabe, has also begun a recount
in 23 constituencies.
The ZEC parliamentary results gave Tsvangirai's MDC 99 seats, while Mugabe's
ZANU secured 97. A breakaway faction of the MDC garnered 10 seats and ZANU's
former minister of information, Jonathan Moyo, who ran as an independent, won
his seat.
The African Union (AU) said it was concerned about the delay in announcing the
presidential results, as this "creates an atmosphere of tension"; the United
Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, said Zimbabwe was in a "rather
dangerous situation".
Tendai Biti, secretary-general of the MDC party led by Tsvangirai, said at a
press briefing on 20 April in Johannesburg, South Africa, that 10 MDC members
had been killed since the 29 March poll, 3,000 had been displaced and 500
hospitalised in political violence.
"There is a war in Zimbabwe being waged by Mugabe's regime against the people;
the regime has unleashed violence on the people. The police have been turning
a blind eye," Biti said.
Johnson Chibuya, 43, of Donzve village in Mashonaland East province's Mutoko
district, about 190km northeast of the capital, Harare, is among hundreds of
villagers seeking refuge from ZANU's retribution at the MDC headquarters in
the capital, awaiting "whatever form of help" he can get, he said, supporting
himself on a pair of crutches.
Torture camps
http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=4290
A week ago, Chibuya, his wife and three school-going children were
force-marched to a bush camp near the village by militias led by a soldier
known only as "Crunch", where they joined other suspected MDC supporters who
had been rounded up in the area.
Continue
http://allafrica.com/stories/200804211904.html
News Source: UN
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