Posted on 03/11/2002 11:48:49 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
HARARE, Zimbabwe - Police fired tear gas to disperse voters Monday at the close of a chaotic, court-ordered third day of polling in the most competitive presidential election in Zimbabwe's history.
Police also fired guns into the air at a polling station in the Harare neighborhood of Glen Norah to disperse 600 people waiting to vote Monday night. When told to go home, they began chanting "Change, change, we want to vote!"
At another polling station in the capital, the presiding officer, escorted by police, marked a distance 100 yards from the entrance and announced the voting line ended there. Voters refused to budge and began arguing with police and officials.
"Since independence I've never seen such a thing and I wonder why they've done so." said F. Ncube, a 50-year-old factory worker.
On Monday night, a judge rejected an opposition appeal to order a fourth day of voting. The voting had been scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, and was held Monday by court order.
Even before the Harare polls closed, authorities announced figures that showed voter turnout was high in strongholds of President Robert Mugabe, with far fewer voters casting ballots in opposition areas.
However, opposition officials said the reported turnouts in pro-Mugabe areas did not match the reports from their polling agents.
Signaling that the vote may already have gone to Mugabe, the government reported Monday morning that Mashonaland Central, which normally votes strongly for the ruling party, had a 68 percent turnout. In Harare, a 47 percent turnout was reported; in the city of Bulawayo, an overwhelmingly opposition area, 46 percent reportedly cast ballots.
Overall, 2.7 million of the nation's 5.6 million registered voters, or 48 percent, cast ballots by Sunday night, the government said. The opposition said the overall turnout figures were suspect and intended to guarantee Mugabe's re-election.
Monday's opening of voting in Harare was unexplicably delayed until noon, when many in line gave up and went home or to work.
"We are not happy, we are stranded," said Never Taraswa, a 37-year-old unemployed man who blamed the government for the long wait to vote in the poor Glen View neighborhood. "They don't want us to change things."
Officials from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change said Mugabe was trying to prevent people from voting in an opposition stronghold as part of a plan to steal the election.
The opposition party's secretary-general and third-ranking official, Welshman Ncube, was arrested Monday in the town of Plumtree, while his deputy, Gift Chimanikire, was detained in Harare, opposition legislator David Coltart said. Police gave no reason for the arrests.
The opposition's shadow minister for foreign affairs, Tendai Biti, also was arrested, opposition officials said.
"We will not succumb to this kind of intimidation," opposition leader and presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai said. He appealed to Zimbabweans to avoid confrontation with security forces.
Two U.S. diplomats were detained for several hours Monday before being released by police in Chinhoyi, 75 miles north of Harare, said Robert Whitehead, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy. He said they were accredited as election observers and Zimbabwean authorities had not explained the detentions.
A group of white farmers and American and British attorneys also was arrested while observing the vote, opposition officials said.
Foreign election observers stopped police from sending voters away from a polling station in Kuwadzana township 45 minutes before polls were supposed to close Monday.
But police did stop balloting in the poor neighborhood at 7 p.m., even though more than 200 people remained in line and government officials had promised to keep polls open until everyone voted.
Tsvangirai accused Mugabe and his ruling party of trying to steal the election by driving opposition observers from 43 percent of the rural polling stations, some of the rural counting stations and discouraging voting in Harare.
Independent election observers have expressed concern over the number of people turned away by polling officials, reportedly because they tried to vote in the wrong districts or did not have proper identification.
Government officials denied any voting irregularities.
"It is common in this part of the world for people who are losing an election to allege fraud," said Jonathon Moyo, minister of information.
Moyo also accused the opposition of trying to intimidate voters and called them "political hooligans." He said opposition members chanted slogans outside polling stations and that 218 were arrested trying to vote twice.
The election is Zimbabwe's most hotly contested since Mugabe led the nation to independence in 1980. In recent years, Zimbabwe's economy has collapsed and political violence - blamed mostly on the ruling party - has become rampant.
"If those thousands of people are not allowed to vote, this is a stillborn election," Tsvangirai said Monday. "The MDC will not be part of an illegitimate process to try to disenfranchise people."
There is no doubt that the vast majority of Zimbabweans reject Mugabe and his disastrous Marxist policies. There is also no doubt that Mugabe has no intention of being removed from power, even by an overwhelming electoral defeat. These elections have been rigged from the beginning and have been hijacked by ZANU-PF. However, the long-suffering people of Zimbabwe have reached breaking point. If they are not able to get rid of the tyrant who is oppressing them by the ballot box, many will resort to bullets. The scene is being set for a violent confrontation in Zimbabwe. [End Excerpt]
It's clear that the majority of Zimbabweans now have no alternative except violent revolution to overthrow this corrupt and oppressive dictatorship. We should do everything to assist them. "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." Jefferson.
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- The ruling African National Congress accused former President Carter on Sunday of being arrogant and contemptuous after criticizing the government's AIDS policies, and said he was trying to foist unsafe drugs on South African AIDS sufferers.
Carter, who visited South Africa on Friday before flying to Nigeria, urged the government to do more to fight AIDS and offered to help raise funds for anti-AIDS programs. Specifically, he said the government should make available the AIDS drug nevirapine, found effective in reducing the mother-to-child transmission of HIV....
20 posted on 3/11/02 8:54 AM Pacific by tracer
A CRACK unit of Libyan intelligence officers is in the country to beef up President Robert Mugabe's security and intelligence system as the nation lurches towards the 2002 presidential election, now only five months away, the Zimbabwe Independent has learnt. Intelligence sources told the Independent this week that over 20 Libyan nationals were booked at a local hotel and could be seen driving around in government vehicles. They are understood to be re-training intelligence personnel and President Mugabe's close security unit.
(November 5, 2001) Terror Militias set up for election
(November 7, 2001) Gadaafi to supply Mugabe with death squads?
(January 15, 2002) Mugabe's Way or the Highway
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.