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This article participates on the following special index pages:
Post-election violence 2008 - Index of articles & images
American
and British diplomats attacked by state agents in Bindura
Tererai Karimakwenda, SW Radio Africa
June 05, 2008
http://www.swradioafrica.com/News050608/US050608.htm
Another diplomatic incident
has been reported in Zimbabwe, this time in the town of Bindura.
According to Mark Weinberg,
an official at the American Embassy in Harare, a convoy of American
and British diplomats on a fact finding trip to Bindura on Thursday
were stopped by a gang of state agents that included police, intelligence
agents and war veterans. They were told to go to the local police
station, but they refused.
Weinberg said the diplomatic
delegation went on its way but were followed. They were stopped
at a roadblock by the same gang, who this time had their guns drawn
and pointed at the diplomats, as they ordered them to get out of
their cars. The gang pulled out knives, slashed the vehicle tyres
and detained the delegation for several hours.
According to a BBC report,
there were 10 US embassy officials and 4 officials from the UK High
Commission on the trip. The US Ambassador James McGee was not involved
in the incident, but he is quoted as saying that a Zimbabwean driver
working with a US embassy security official was beaten up by the
group. The war vets stole a camera and a satellite telephone.
McGee said the incident
was 'extremely serious and a violation of all diplomatic protocols'.
He warned that the American government would raise it at the very
highest levels with the Zimbabwean authorities.
Last month the
US Ambassador and a group of diplomats were harassed
on a trip to visit victims of violence in the Centenary area outside
Harare. Harare based journalist Angus Shaw sees the harassment of
diplomats and the ongoing violence, is clearly the Mugabe regime's
ongoing vicious clamp down on any democratic space, ahead of the
runoff election on June 27.
Shaw pointed
to the detention
of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Wednesday and the recent imprisonment
of South African drivers from Sky News as even more extreme examples
of the clampdown. He says the harassment is also a warning to foreign
media. Shaw said there are still no election observers on the ground
witnessing these events and he believes ZANU-PF is going to go to
any length this time, to make sure they claim victory on June 27.
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