Posted on 02/22/2002 7:43:38 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe police shot at the convoy of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Friday and two South African election observers were wounded in a separate attack by pro-government militants, the opposition party said.
The incidents came as southern African observers warned that a wave of political violence threatened chances for a free and fair election on March 9-10.
Tsvangirai, who poses the strongest challenge to President Robert Mugabe in 22 years of power, had stopped to greet supporters in a village about 43 miles from Masvingo when the shooting happened.
"Police today shot twice at Morgan Tsvangirai's convoy in Maringire village...No one was injured," said a spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Tsvangirai continued on to a political rally in Masvingo, where the MDC has a strong following in the city. Mugabe's supporters hold sway in the countryside.
Police chief spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said he was unaware of the incident but would make checks. A police spokesman in Masvingo also said he had heard of no incident.
The run-up to the election has been marred by allegations of state-sponsored violence and intimidation.
OBSERVERS WOUNDED
In the first incident involving foreign election observers, two South Africans were wounded when 200 pro-government militants armed with stones and iron bars attacked an MDC office in central town of Kwekwe.
"The attack...resulted in the injury of two South Africans...and at least five MDC supporters were injured," the MDC said in a statement.
A spokesman for the South African observer mission confirmed that an incident had occurred, but he gave no details.
South Africa and the 14-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) have the largest number of foreign observers in Zimbabwe since the European Union pulled out earlier this week and imposed sanctions on the Harare government.
"It is vital that the political situation changes in a manner that will remove fear to enable the people to freely exercise their electoral rights," said Duke Lefoko, leader of the advance team for 50 parliamentary observers from SADC.
Lefoko, speaking in Harare ahead of the weekend arrival of the SADC team, said the observers would be deployed across Zimbabwe next week.
The MDC says more than 100 of its supporters have been killed in political violence since February 2000 when militants loyal to Mugabe began invading white-owned farms.
The government has denied responsibility for the violence and accused the opposition of fueling civil unrest.
"WE ARE TAKING YOUR FARM"
In the early hours of Friday, about 30 militants smashed through the security gate at James Ogden-Brown's farm near Chegutu, southwest of Harare, and ordered him off the land, a spokesman for the Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU) said.
"They told him: 'Mr. Ogden-Brown...you have 30 minutes to leave. We are taking your farm'," the CFU spokesman said.
The group then entered the farmhouse and seized six firearms. As the 35-year-old Ogden-Brown, his wife Cheryl and their two children packed their belongings, a group of farmers arrived on the scene after being alerted by radio.
Some of the militants rushed to the farm gate and opened fire at the farmers, who fled. There were no injuries, but one car was hit by shotgun pellets, the CFU spokesman said.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has added his voice to growing international pressure on Zimbabwe's leaders to ensure the elections are free and fair.
"For the sake of the people of Zimbabwe, of its neighbors and the entire continent of Africa, I appeal to the government to let the people make their choice, and to live by it," Annan said in a statement issued late on Thursday.
Annan made no reference to European Union sanctions on Mugabe and his inner circle after the government refused to accredit the head of the EU observer team.
The U.S. is considering similar targeted sanctions.
"Those democratic rights not removed by legislation will be snuffed out by violence," said Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, a professor of political science at the University of Zimbabwe. "The presidential election cannot be free and fair."
For nearly two years, bands of ruling party militants have occupied white-owned farms and attacked supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, which presents the strongest challenge ever to President Robert Mugabe's 22-year rule.
About 150 people have been killed, thousands tortured and at least 70,000 rendered homeless, according to the Human Rights Forum, a consortium of local rights groups in Zimbabwe. The ruling party and the government were behind more than 90 percent of the attacks, the forum said.
In a report Tuesday, the forum said the ruling party had set up at least 22 militia bases around the country where militants tortured opposition supporters and gathered for attacks on opposition strongholds.
Tony Reeler, an official with the human rights group the Amani Trust in Zimbabwe, said the violence and intimidation is so widespread that "the no-go area is called Zimbabwe." [End Excerpt]
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