Millitants treaten to take fight to embassies

War veterans are to target foreign embassies and aid agencies in protest at alleged support for political opponents of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe.

Ruling party MP Chenjerai Hunzvi, who heads an organisation of veterans of the war for independence, said foreign governments and aid agencies were funding and colluding with the opposition Movement for Change.

‘‘We will be visiting them soon to express our displeasure and to warn them to stop interfering with our internal matters. Our next target will be to deal with them once and for all,’’ Hunzvi said.

The British High Commission will be high on their list of targets.

Diplomats in Harare said day they were taking the threat seriously. They said ambassadors will draft a joint submission to the government.

‘‘We will be asking for assurances we will be accorded the protection we are entitled to under international treaties to which Zimbabwe is a signatory,’’ said one senior Western diplomat who asked not to be identified.

Mugabe’s party has accused Britain, the former colonial power, the United States and the European Union of backing the opposition.

On Tuesday, violent militants stormed the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, a German educational charity and extorted £7,500 from its officials, ostensibly to settle a labour dispute involving two employees laid off in 1999.

Despite requests from Fritz Flimm, the German ambassador, police refused to intervene.

Police have taken no action against ruling party militants who have stormed more than 20 businesses, factories and other facilities in the past two weeks demanding pay-outs for laid off workers, compensation or pay increases.

Militants accused the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, which runs literacy and political awareness programs, of disseminating opposition papers and materials.

Felix Schmidt, the head of the foundation, said at least 20 militants stormed his offices and held staff captive for six hours, threatening them with assault. The agency remained closed for a second day.

Another German aid agency, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, was closed for a second day after its officials received telephone threats.

A dental centre and a private hospital were asked for a total £140,000. Managers at the dental centre said a demanded pay-out of £88,000 would likely force it to close by the end of the month.

At the Avenues Clinic, the nation’s top private hospital, one white manager was threatened to be locked up in a coffin.

Managing director Malcolm Boyland said violent militants demanded back pay for 35 workers dismissed since 1995.

‘‘With the welfare of patients and staff in mind, the clinic agreed to pay,’’ he said.

The pay-outs would delay purchases of new medical equipment and supplies, Boyland said.

The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, representing thousands of factories and commercial businesses, said it had been inundated with reports from its members of ‘‘external interference in labour matters’’ usually handled by the Ministry of Labour.

It called for swift action to end the intimidation.

Mugabe, 77, is scheduled to run in presidential elections that must be held by early next year.

Ruling party militants launched largely violent occupations of white-owned farms ahead of the June polls after accusing white farmers of bankrolling opposition campaigners.

Hunzvi, the militant leader, said the onslaught on urban businesses was ‘‘the second phase’’ of the fight by blacks for economic emancipation.

The opposition said the raids were aimed to win back vote of urban workers who largely supported the opposition in parliamentary elections last June.