Posted on 03/07/2002 1:05:31 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
HARARE (Reuters) - Just over two days before Zimbabwe's closest-fought presidential election, Robert Mugabe warned he would pursue his challenger once the voting was over.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been accused of treason over a secretly recorded video purporting to show him discussing Mugabe's assassination with Canadian consultants who were actually working for Mugabe.
A private Zimbabwean newspaper reported Thursday that Mugabe's government had placed the army on high alert, recalled soldiers from leave and ordered those who live outside military barracks to stay home, ready to deal with possible trouble after the elections next Saturday and Sunday.
The weekly Financial Gazette also said the government had withdrawn some troops from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to beef up security and repeated remarks made by one Mugabe's senior officials early this week that the ruling ZANU-PF party would support a military coup if Mugabe lost power.
Mugabe told a rally in eastern Zimbabwe Wednesday that Tsvangirai would have to answer for the alleged murder plot after the elections.
"No murderer will go unpunished. No one we know to have planned such deeds will escape," said Mugabe, promising post-election retribution against those he said had committed crimes against Zimbabwe, though he mentioned no names.
"We'll see this issue to its conclusion once this (election) is out of the way," he said in comments carried by state-owned television late Wednesday and early Thursday.
Zimbabweans vote this weekend after the most bitter and closely fought campaign in 22 years of independence under Mugabe.
MUGABE SAYS OPPONENT A STOOGE
In his address to the public, Mugabe accused Tsvangirai, the head of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), of being a stooge of Britain and the country's white minority which waged a bush war to hold on to power in the 1970s.
"You suffered for this country while the Tsvangirais fled the war...now he is licking the white man's boots," Mugabe said.
The ZANU-PF leader told the rally that local whites and Britain were eager to get rid of all former liberation movements in Africa.
"If ZANU-PF is removed from power now, they will proceed to Frelimo, to ANC and then to Swapo," Mugabe said, referring to the guerrilla movements turned ruling parties of neighboring Mozambique, South Africa and Namibia.
Zimbabwe Information Minister Jonathan Moyo hosted a cocktail for the media Wednesday, and complained about alleged distortions of the Zimbabwe story by the media.
But he said Zimbabwe was surprised by distortions in neighboring South Africa, including the public broadcaster.
The Financial Gazette quoted Zimbabwean government official sources as saying: "All armed forces have been placed on alert, their leave canceled and those living outside the barracks ordered to stay at home as Zimbabwean authorities prepare for trouble after this weekend's explosive vote."
Government officials were not unavailable early Thursday to comment on the report.
The state body appointed to run the vote, the Election Directorate, was due to release details Thursday on the location of polling stations, state-run television also reported. Vote counting would begin on March 11, it said.
The MDC and foreign critics, led by former colonial power Britain and the United States, accuse Mugabe, 78, of trying to rig the vote.
SCANT INFORMATION
At a briefing for foreign observers and media, the official Electoral Supervisory Commission Wednesday gave out scant information.
It could not say how many ballot papers had been printed, the exact location of 4,548 polling stations or when voter lists would be made public.
Nor could Commission chairman Sobuza Gula-Ndebele, a retired army colonel, say why only 23 local observers had been accredited out of 12,000 nominees.
"I have a problem. I don't think as the supervisor of an election that is only a couple of days away you can tell people 'I don't know'," said observer Martha Sayed of Botswana's Independent Electoral Commission.
The MDC has vowed to mount a legal challenge to election rules reimposed by Mugabe Tuesday in defiance of his own Supreme Court.
The MDC, hoping to turn public anger over a crumbling economy and severe food shortages into victory, accuses ZANU-PF of using a militia disguised as a youth training service to terrorize the opposition.
Mugabe and his party have denied orchestrating a campaign of intimidation and rejected allegations that it is trying to fix the polls, blaming pre-election violence on the MDC.
Some 5.6 million Zimbabweans will go to the polls at a time of severe food shortages caused by drought and the state-sanctioned invasions of white-owned farms which have slashed maize output.
His solution? Set up a "sting" operation, doctor a tape and accuse Tsvangirai of plotting to murder him. That way if his terrorist squads and military oversight of the election failed, he could arrest Tsvangirai, likely to be Zimbabwe's president-elect after the election this weekend, and have him executed, and all according to the "law" just passed by his hand-picked court. Will the world sit back and continue to yawn?
Want to know more? Here is a LINK to this unfolding disaster.
Closing ranks
Why then have African leaders been so reluctant to do anything about Mr Mugabe or even criticise him? At the Commonwealth meeting the Africans protected Mr Mugabe while Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia demanded Zimbabwe's suspension.
It looks like a racial split but it is only the African leaders who support Mr Mugabe.
Many of Africa's professionals and intellectuals are as critical of Mr Mugabe as Western countries. [End Excerpt]
Throughout the Old Testament, God allowed drought to plague those nations who rejected the truth. There really isn't anything new under the sun. The same cause and effect will continue until the end of time.
The people of Zimbabwe will need our prayers this weekend and beyond.
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