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Is Zim on the brink of civil war?
Fred Kockott, Chiara Carter and Peta Thornycroft, Independent Online
April 27, 2008

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3045&art_id=vn20080427095819336C755285

Zimbabwe could soon be in the throes of a civil war. It has emerged that supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), who have been victims of attacks from armed militia and law enforcement agencies, have begun to retaliate.

Human Rights Watch in Zimbabwe said that, for the first time, it had documented several incidents of violence by supporters of the MDC. But it said the scope of those incidents was incomparable to those perpetrated by the state security agents and Zanu-PF militia.

Human Rights Watch warned that the emergence of "tit-for-tat retaliatory attacks" between Zanu-PF and MDC supporters would escalate the violence.

A report in The Zimbabwean on Friday said army barracks across the country were now issuing war veterans and former military and police officers with AK-47 assault rifles.

"The official line is that they need to protect themselves against anticipated attacks by the MDC and its foreign supporters, particularly on former white-owned farms. But the real intention is to use the weapons against opposition supporters in the rural areas," the report said.

"MDC supporters in Masvingo and Mashonaland East provinces have organised themselves into local defence units to fight back violence and intimidation by war veterans, military personnel and Zanu-PF militia."

On Thursday, there were "fierce battles" in the village of Makaha in Mashonaland East as MDC supporters repelled an attack by Zanu-PF.

"Reports are still coming in but indications are that Zanu militiamen were badly mauled," The Zimbabwean reported.

On Friday, Zimbabwean police raided the MDC headquarters in Harare, Harvest House, which had become a refuge for opposition supporters. They arrested 300 people in the biggest crackdown on the MDC since last month's elections.

The raids came hours before the first results of the recount were published.

The results show that Mugabe's Zanu-PF party has failed to secure control of parliament, handing the ruling party its first defeat in 28 years.

Results of a parallel presidential poll have not been released and Mugabe has been preparing for a run-off against Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader. Tsvangirai says he won outright and his party has rejected both the recount and any run-off.

Mukoni Ratshitanga, the spokesperson for President Thabo Mbeki, said, as far he was he aware, no plans had been made by the South African government or the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to deploy any teams of human rights observers and peace monitors.

"As a mediator, the president is constantly in touch with the political leadership in Zimbabwe - of both parties," Ratshitanga said. "The situation is being addressed. There is confidence that a solution can be found," he said.

But Georgette Gagnon, the director of Human Rights Watch Africa, said the SADC mediation process had now decisively failed and urged that the African Union step in urgently "to protect civilians and resolve this crisis before it gets any worse".

She said: "Anyone opposing Mugabe is in danger."

Cosatu on Saturday described the Zimbabwe election crisis as an "abortion of democracy in Africa", and called for civil action worldwide to end the rule of the "illegal Zanu-PF regime".

"War has been declared on unarmed citizens. People are being assaulted, homes burned and people killed. This is all state sponsored," said Zwelinzima Vavi, the Cosatu general secretary.

"We need to send out a clear, decisive message that this regime cannot be tolerated in Africa.

"They have staged a coup d'etat - refused to play the game according to the rules and assembled in defiance of what people voted on March 29," said Vavi.

He warned that continued failure of African and regional leaders to ensure that a new government of Zimbabwe was constituted, as elected through the polls, could see the crisis unfold "into another major genocide, right under our noses".

Vavi called on not only workers and labour movements worldwide, but also on all governments, institutions, civil society and individuals "to make it clear that this illegal regime in Zimbabwe will not be tolerated in Africa".

Vavi agreed with Gagnon, and said that, instead of facing isolation for subverting the electoral process and orchestrating violence, invitations were being extended to the likes of Patrick Chinamasa, the former justice minister, and other Zanu-PF leaders to African Union and SADC summits, such as this week's conference on poverty in Mauritius.

"Look at Chinamasa, parading as a Zimbabwe government minister, attending SADC meetings, being quoted in the media as a minister - yet he lost his parliamentary seats in the elections, as did three quarters of other senior Zanu-PF leaders," said Vavi.

Jacob Zuma, the ANC president, described Zimbabwe as a "police state". This was after Zimbabwe riot police raided offices of opposition organisations on Friday, including the Harare headquarters of the MDC.

Police reportedly smashed their way through groups of injured refugees, then beat their way upstairs into the MDC's main offices to arrest hundreds of its officials and confiscate computers and the party's election materials.

Human Rights Watch said there was also "grave concern" about 500 people, including more than 100 children, believed to be sheltering in the MDC's regional headquarters in Mutare. It said Mutare's country club has been turned into an "informal torture centre" by militia.

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