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Zimbabwe
police arrest fierce Mugabe critic
ZimOnline
May 17, 2006
http://www.zimonline.co.za/headdetail.asp?ID=12114
HARARE
- Zimbabwe police on Wednesday arrested a University of Zimbabwe
(UZ) political science lecturer and fierce critic of President Robert
Mugabe's government, John Makumbe.
Makumbe,
who was picked from the university grounds early in the morning,
is being held at the Harare central police station's notorious law
and order section, where detainees have often complained of being
beaten up and tortured.
The
UZ lecturer told ZimOnline by mobile phone that by late morning
no charges had yet been preferred against him. He however said he
suspected that his arrest may be linked to yesterday's commemoration
by civic society groups of the government's controversial home demolition
last year that the United Nations (UN) said left at least 700 000
people homeless.
"They
(police) just told me that they wanted to have a chat with me,"
said Makumbe. "They have not laid any charges yet but they are preparing
for the so-called chat. I think this has to do with my participation
in the preparations for the commemoration of Operation
Murambatsvina (home demolition exercise)."
Civic
society groups and journalists yesterday marked the home destruction
campaign by touring various suburbs and areas where police bulldozers
demolished backyard cottages and shantytowns in an exercise defended
by Mugabe as necessary to smash crime and keep Zimbabwe's cities
and towns beautiful.
Western
nations, the local opposition, human rights groups and churches
roundly condemned the home demolition exercise with UN envoy Anna
Tibaijuka, who spent two weeks in Zimbabwe probing the urban renewal
exercise, saying in a report that the clean-up exercise not only
violated human rights but also possibly breached international law.
Tibaijuka
said in addition to making nearly a million people homeless, the
clean-up exercise also indirectly affected another 2.4 million people.
The
Zimbabwe government rejected the UN report, saying Tibaijuka was
under pressure from Western governments to produce a negative report
that would tarnish Mugabe and his government's image. - ZimOnline
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