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MDC publishes report ahead of talks
Radio VOP
September 10, 2008

http://www.radiovop.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3786&Itemid=755

At least 314 activists and supporters of the opposition MDC have since died through vindictive state sponsored violence since 2000, the MDC says.

The MDC recently published its "Roll of honour" where all its 314 activists are listed, including the circumstances of their deaths.

The report coincides with a fresh bid to revive talks between MDC factions and the ruling Zanu PF to save the troubled southern nation.

However prospects for a power-sharing deal look remote.

"Our assessment is that they are simply trying to put spanners in the works, and they are not serious about reaching a workable power-sharing arrangement," a senior Zanu PF official told Reuters.

The activists died at the hands of President Robert Mugabe's militant supporters who include war veterans and hit squads from the spy central intelligence organization.

According to the MDC, the period preceding the June 27 presidential run-off election was the bloodiest in the MDC's nine years of political existence.

An estimated 200 MDC activists died in less than three months as Mugabe fought to reverse his shock defeat to rival candidate Morgan Tsvangirai in the March 29 elections.

Thousands were maimed while multitudes were also rendered homeless after their homes and properties were burnt down for supporting the MDC.

The violence led to the withdrawal of Tsvangirai, who cited massive state sponsored violence on his supporters.

Government has vehemently denied it is responsible for the violence.It counter accuses the MDC as responsible for the violence.

A top Zanu PF official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the MDC apparently incensed Mugabe's Zanu PF by publicly calling for the prosecution of perpetrators of violence, resulting in the intensification of violence ahead of the June presidential run off.

MDC secretary general Tendai Biti told multitudes of his party's supporters at the MDC's ninth anniversary in Gweru Sunday that the MDC will not betray its fallen companions.

"We have suffered. There are the likes of Tonderai Ndira who died, the likes of Chiminya (Tichaona) who died. We cannot betray those comrades," Biti said. "At the moment we are in God's hands."

"But what we know which is in our own hands is that we will not sell out the people of this country. We will remain consistent to our founding principles."

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