Posted on 02/07/2002 11:31:43 PM PST by GeronL
ZIMBABWE’S commercial farmers this week said President Robert Mugabe’s militant war veterans had set up "re-education camps" on several farms in Mashonaland East, where ruling ZANU PF youths were being trained in military tactics to hunt down opposition party supporters.They said youths were forcibly recruited in the province and sent to terrorise opposition party supporters and white farmers, threatening to harm them if they did not vote for Mugabe in next month’s presidential election.
Youths from the government’s Border Gezi Training Centre near Mount Darwin are said to be assisting the war veterans with the training on the commercial farms.
The Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU) this week said at one Mashonaland East farm, Glen Sommerset in Macheke, up to 150 people were being trained daily by war veterans before being sent to other properties.
"There is a training camp in full swing with plus or minus 150 people training daily close to the farmer’s house on Glen Sommerset," said a senior CFU official. He declined to provide further detail, saying it would jeopardise the farmer’s life.
The national chairman of the Zimbabwe Victims Rehabilitation Support Network (ZVRSN), Bopoto Nyandoro, said war veterans had also set up 10 bases in Mashonaland East where suspected opposition supporters were being tortured.
He said a field study undertaken by ZVRSN had revealed that opposition Movement for Democratic Change supporters were being kidnapped, tortured and forced to reveal where their colleagues lived.
He said the 10 bases were at Irene Farm, Igava, Pondarossa, Michel, Gumbeze, Sheba, Nyagambe, Mohoroza, Tranquility and Safari Farm, all located around Macheke.
"Their (war veterans) strategy is that they kidnap and torture political opponents and force them to reveal where other supporters are living," he told the Financial Gazette.
"Where reports have been made to the police, it is usually the victim who is arrested on the basis that he is being investigated for abducting a ZANU PF supporter."
Police at Marondera provincial headquarters refused to comment on the issue, saying they did not discuss allegations.
In its farm security report this week, the CFU reported that in other provinces war veterans and ZANU PF youths were terrorising workers and farmers and falsely accusing farmers of sabotaging their crops.
The organisation said the accusations were being made so that the war veterans could expel the farmers from their properties.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Social Workers-Zimbabwe yesterday said social welfare officers distributing drought relief money in rural areas were being chased away by villagers who complained that the amounts were too little.
"We fear for the safety and lives of all these civil servants and we urge everyone to be tolerant with them as they discharge their duties to the public," association secretary Douglas Machiridza said, appealing to the police, chiefs and politicians to provide protection
Terror Militias set up for election----November 5, 2001
Gadaafi to supply Mugabe with death squads?----November 6, 2001
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BRAVO backhoe BRAVO!
They just might. Let's give it a try!
Let the Sons of Bees know what's bugging you! Why should you suffer alone? Spread it around!
I agree. Even a mention from them, will get the others to pick up their ears and put their brains in gear.
You do know that it was Sean, on his radio show , who got the entire country stirred up about the WTC flag & the morons of the Olympic committe ; right ? He CAN get a lot done . Brit is also a " good " guy.
The three were paraded, injured and bleeding, wearing handcuffs in front of the police station in Nkayi on Thursday while 37 other opposition party officials and supporters were also held, the MDC says.
I don't know why no nation , in the entire world , is doing anything. Oh, never mind, Mugabe is black and a Socialits. No one cares what that sort does. : - (
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