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Zimbabwe
rights groups concerned about abuses ahead of the elections
Carole
Gombakomba, Voice of America (VOA)
October 08, 2007
http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/Zimbabwe/2007-10-08-voa36.cfm
Zimbabwean human rights
groups say that while documented cases of abuses have declined since
July, the situation in the country is nevertheless worrisome given
that politically related violence and other abuses tend to rise
in electoral periods.
The Zimbabwe
Human Rights NGO Forum said some 547 people were the victims
of human rights violations in August compared with 1,219 reported
cases in July.
The
report said the country's political environment is "largely
defined by . . . torture, intimidation and politically motivated
violence" against rights defenders.
The report highlighted
other violations including abduction or kidnapping, assaults, restriction
of freedom of expression or movement, political discrimination,
victimization, unlawful arrests and detention.
The Forum said that in
August, about 30 members of the Zimbabwe National Army circulated
in the Harare high-density suburb of Dzivarasekwa beating up women
and children who were selling various wares. In an unrelated incident
on August 8, more than 70 uniformed soldiers "ran amok in Esigodini
in Matebeleland South, where they assaulted villagers (and) looted
the village headman's shop" in what was seen as retaliation
for a scuffle involving army officers and local villagers.
The Zimbabwe
Peace Project, a member group of the Human Rights Forum, issued
its own rights report for August, listing cases of murder, assault
and political intolerance. The Peace Project report said the state
price-cutting blitz since July has been marked by corruption, looting
and harassment by soldiers and police officers.
The Peace Project said
agricultural "inputs and food continue to be distributed along
partisan lines" excluding those known to oppose the ruling
ZANU-PF party.
The report also alleged
that officials from the Office of the Registrar General carrying
out a mobile voter registration exercise that ended in mid-August
seemed to be under the control of politicians"as they failed
to professionally manage the process."
Zimbabwe Peace Project
National Director Jestina Mukoko reporter Carole Gombakomba of VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the rights abuse trend suggests trouble
ahead as the country prepares for national elections in March 2008.
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