Truemors
JOHANNESBURG (ZA) - Robert Mugabe has ordered his Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party to initiate coordinated post-election violence to eliminate perceived supporters of the opposition victory in Zimbabwe. The latest reports coming from within Zimbabwe are that Mugabe's defeated ZANU-PF politburo have even recommended the resuscitation of Gukurahundi-style detention camps. ZANU-PF youth militia and war veterans would run a campaign of terror from these camps to violently crush the popular Movement for Democratic Change party in rural areas while also silencing any opposition support in Zimbabwe's major cities.
Four hundred opposition supporters have been detained by the Mugabe's ZANU-PF regime in political violence following March 29 elections, the secretary general of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change said in Johannesburg on Sunday.
"Over 400 of our activists have been detained," secretary general Tendai Biti said at a news conference, adding that 3,000 families had been displaced and at least 500 opposition supporters had been hospitalised. With more torture on horizon in Zimbabwe, the country still suffers under the dictatorial excesses of Robert Mugabe, despite numerous warnings against his actions in the past.
A Zanu-PF representative confirmed the deployment of ruling party youths and self-styled war veterans in rural areas, but insisted that ZANU-PF cadres were being sent only to protect villagers from the "violent MDC". ZANU-PF officially denies that it is using stratified violence to wipe out MDC organisers and terrorize the rural electorate.
"It is a horrifying prospect that Mugabe could order the resuscitation of torture camps in a supposedly democratic country. These actions must be challenged, they cannot be ignored. We support the valiant efforts of the MDC and other organisations desperately fighting a daily battle for freedom against this oppressive regime" said Kathryn Llewellyn, Head of Campaigns at Action for Southern Africa.
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