Zimbabwe troops 'crushing Mugabe's opponents'

Zimbabwe’s army was today accused of unleashing a campaign of terror and violence against opponents of president Robert Mugabe.

Human Rights Watch joined other international groups, Zimbabwe’s opposition party and independent Zimbabwean rights organisations in linking violence since the disputed presidential vote to the security forces and so-called "war veterans".

The veterans groups are fiercely loyal to Mugabe and have roots in the nation’s independence struggle but increasingly include militants too young to have been guerrilla fighters.

Authorities have even arrested scores of people, including women and their nursing babies, who the opposition says had taken shelter from violence in the countryside at its headquarters in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital.

Lawyers for Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change said the Harare High Court on Monday ordered everyone arrested at its headquarters last week to be freed.

Mugabe has been accused of using violence, intimidation and fraud to hold onto power after the March 29 presidential election he is believed to have lost. Results from that election have yet to be released.

“The army and its allies – ’war veterans’ and supporters of the ruling party ZANU-PF – are intensifying their brutal grip on wide swathes of rural Zimbabwe to ensure that a possible second round of presidential elections goes their way,” Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said.

“The African Union and UN Security Council should take immediate steps to help prevent a further escalation in violence,” she said.

The opposition also has appealed to African leaders and to the UN for help.

Yesterday, a Zimbabwean opposition leader urged the UN Security Council to appoint a special envoy to his country. But the deeply divided council took no action.

While the US, Britain and France back sending a UN envoy to Zimbabwe, diplomats said South Africa, Russia, China and other members oppose any action now.

In the closed hearing, Britain’s deputy UN ambassador, Karen Pierce, said UN political chief Lynn Pascoe had spoken of "a level of political intimidation and violence that I think many council members found quite chilling".

Human Rights Watch said war veterans were being given guns and trucks by the army and were "collaborating with the army in unleashing a campaign of terror and violence against (opposition) MDC members and supporters".