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Zimbabwe army speaks on political violence
Cuthbert Nzou, ZimOnline
May 08, 2008

http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=3132

Zimbabwe's army on Wednesday broke its silence on political violence in the country to reject charges that soldiers have violated human rights and murdered opposition supporters since March when President Robert Mugabe's government suffered electoral defeat.

Army deputy public relations officer, Major Alphios Makotore, said the army was concerned by the allegations that soldiers have spearheaded a campaign of violence, torture and murder against opposition supporters to force them to vote for Mugabe in a second round presidential election.

Zimbabwe holds a presidential run-off poll at a yet unknown date after opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe in a March 29 election but failed to garner more than 50 percent of the vote required to takeover the presidency.

Makotore said: "The Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) wishes to raise concerns over articles being published in the print and the electronic media on allegations relating to the alleged political violence, assaults, harassment and robberies perpetrated by men in army uniforms . . . the army categorically distances itself and any of its members from such activities."

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party accuses the army of spearheading and directing a campaign of violence and murder by gangs of ruling ZANU PF party youths and war veterans that the opposition says has killed 24 of its members and displaced another 5 000, while 800 homesteads have been burnt down.

The MDC has alleged that the army has deployed more than 200 senior soldiers to orchestrate violence in what the opposition party has described as a war being waged by Mugabe against voters in a bid to intimidate them to grant him another five years in office.

MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa insisted that the army was heavily involved in political violence, adding that his party had compiled a full list of army officers at the forefront of committing human rights abuses.

"We have names of soldiers perpetrating violence," Chamisa said. "No amount of denials will take away the fact that the army, police, CIO agents, war veterans and ZANU PF militia are brutalizing our supporters."

Worsening political violence in Zimbabwe - a country also grappling with its worst ever economic crisis and food shortages - has raised an outcry by the international community with United Nations chief Ban Ki-Moon saying on Monday that he was concerned with the violence, adding he was consulting African leaders on how to resolve the situation.

The UN Secretary General spoke as the head of the African Union Commission, Jean Ping, visited Zimbabwe for talks with Mugabe on the country's deepening political crisis.

While also this week South African President Thabo Mbeki, the Southern African Development Community's mediator in Zimbabwe, dispatched a team of officials led by Cabinet Minister Sydney Mufamadi to probe post-election violence in Zimbabwe.

Mufamadi's team was expected to meet all political players in a bid to find a solution to the violence and ensure that the second round presidential ballot is held in a free and fair environment.

No date has been set for the run-off election while Tsvangirai - who maintains he was cheated of outright victory in the first round poll - is yet to commit himself to contesting the second round ballot.

Tsvangirai is widely expected to win the run-off poll on the back of a worsening economic crisis that has fed voter anger against Mugabe and is marked by an acute shortage of food and the world's highest inflation of more than 160 000 percent.

However analysts warn that a violent onslaught by army-backed ZANU PF against Tsvangirai's supporters and MDC structures could effectively alter the political equation and deliver victory to Mugabe.

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