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This article participates on the following special index pages:
Operation Murambatsvina - Countrywide evictions of urban poor - Index of articles
Another transit camp opens at Hopley Estate
Grace
Kombora, The Zimbabwe Independent
August 19, 2005
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/news/2005/August/Friday19/3030.html
ANOTHER transit camp
in the mould of the disbanded Caledonia Farm has opened at Hopley Estate
where scores of people have been dumped in an open space without any facilities
despite government claims that it has closed all transit camps.
Former Porta Farm
residents who were evicted under Operation Murambatsvina have been moved
to Hopley Estate south of Harare, where prison officers and police are
keeping the inmates under armed guard.
The detainees are
not allowed to speak to the media and civic organisations.
Security officers
earlier this week prevented the Zimbabwe Independent crew from interviewing
residents at the transit camp.
"You do not enter
at your own will. You get clearance from the Ministry of Information first
before I can permit your entry," said one the officers.
He said journalists
and civic organisations were barred entry into the area.
Ministry officials
yesterday refused to comment on the issue referring all questions to the
Media and Information Commission (MIC).
MIC officer Munyaradzi
Nyamagodo however denied that the commission had issued instructions to
shut out the media.
Hopley Estate is one
of the three farms subdivided into residential stands to be allocated
to evictees under the controversial Operation Garikai.
Living conditions
at Hopley Farm, where the displaced have been dumped for the past three
weeks, are described by civic groups as "inhuman".
People are living
without shelter while food and water supplies are erratic.
Unicef and the International
Organisation for Migration (IOM) have started providing aid to people
at Hopley Estate.
We are assisting these
people with 45 000 litres of water every day," said James Elder of Unicef.
The IOM is distributing blankets and food at the transit camp.
Most of the people
at Hopley lost their belongings during their displacements to Caledonia.
Caledonia transit
camp was closed during the visit last month of UN special envoy Anna Tibaijuka
to assess the impact and extent of Operation Murambatsvina.
There are no latrines
at the new transit camp.
The Zimbabwe Lawyers
for Human Rights' efforts to visit people at Hopley were also blocked
by military personnel guarding the area. US Ambassador to the UN's FAO
and WFP, Tony Hall, was barred entry into the camp by the security officers.
Hall also visited Hatcliff Extension where he expressed concern at the
situation there.
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