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Zanu PF militia abduct children
Tinotenda Kandi, ZimOnline (SA)
May 22, 2008

http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=3199

Harare - Soldiers and ruling Zanu PF party militia campaigning for President Robert Mugabe have resorted to kidnapping children and women to force fathers and husbands to return to villages where they face beatings and torture for supporting the opposition, a local rights group has reported. The Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) said several of the kidnapped women had been sexually harassed as political violence that broke out after opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party defeated Mugabe's government in March 29 elections reaches alarming levels. The ZPP report said in a report released this week that hundreds of male MDC supporters in rural areas had fled violence to seek safety in cities while leaving behind their wives and children. To induce them to return Zanu PF militia were simply abducting the women and children, the group said. "There are also numerous cases where women and children are being taken as ransom and forcibly detained in set up bases until their fathers or husbands who fled violence return to their villages. Women are also being assaulted, tortured, and sexually harassed," the report read in part.

There was no immediate comment from Zanu PF, the government or police on the kidnappings. However the government has in the past denied its supporters were behind the violence while Mugabe on Wednesday accused the MDC of carrying out violence against ruling party supporters. The ZPP said it had recorded 4 359 cases of human rights violations since March and these included looting of property, rape, torture and murder. It said Zanu PF members, youths, uniformed forces, and government officials were the alleged perpetrators in nearly all the cases of violence it had recorded. "The patterns of violence have also shifted with the violence being more physical with an increase in cases of assault, murder, malicious damage to property, and kidnapping," the ZPP ominously warned.

Political analysts say violence - that the MDC says has already killed at least 43 of its supporters while displacing thousands others - could worsen as official campaigning for a June 27 second round presidential election gets into top gear when Mugabe launches his drive to retain power on Saturday. The run-off election is being held because Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe in March but failed to garner more than 50 percent of the vote required to takeover the presidency. Tsvangirai starts as favorite to win the second round ballot after garnering 47.8 percent against Mugabe's 43.2 percent in the first round election. But analysts say violence and intimidation against opposition supporters could effectively alter the political balance to deliver victory to Mugabe in June.

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