Mugabe men 'use rape as revenge'

Electronic Telegraph ^ | 25/08/2002 | Christina Lamb in Manicaland

[aculeus]

Hundreds of girls as young as 12 are being raped or forcibly kept as concubines in rural Zimbabwe by President Robert Mugabe's youth militia as part of a campaign that human-rights lawyers have branded "systematic political cleansing" of the population.

A Rape victim in Mutare

"They are raping on a massive scale," said Frances Lovemore, a counsellor at the Harare-based Amani Trust which monitors torture. "Girls as young as 12 or 13 are being systematically taken and used and abused because of their families' political views."

The organisation is compiling video evidence that it hopes to use to help to bring Mr Mugabe to trial at the international court of human rights. An investigation by The Telegraph found that rape camps had been set up for youth militia and riot police in rural areas.

Victims living in hiding related how they had been gang-raped by police and self-styled war veterans, and had their genitals burnt with iron rods. They said that they had been abused in revenge for their parents not supporting Mr Mugabe, 78, in the presidential poll in March.

Other opponents of the government were badly beaten. As a final indignity, in a land where half the population is on the verge of starvation, victims claimed that militia members often urinated on the family food.

A former militia member recounted how he and others were instructed to attack wives and daughters of opposition sympathisers.

Human rights activists believe that this is part of a programme to drive out, kill or terrify into submission all those who oppose the president. Didymus Mutasa, the of Mr Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF, has even spoken of halving the population to six million.

Details of the violence have emerged as world attention focuses on Mr Mugabe's campaign to evict white farmers while famine threatens.

Critics say the land reform programme is a cover for his war on opposition. "This isn't about race or land, it's about a political tyrant who wants to kill, break down and cripple all opposition," said Roy Bennett, a farmer who is an MP in Manicaland, eastern Zimbabwe, for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

[Eternal_Bear]

The leftist media is of course totally silent. If however, the Whites had been doing this to blacks.............

[St.Chuck]

And many here still maintain there is nothing wrong with US foreign policy?

You can bet that if Zimbabwe had a vast oil supply, Bush, et.al. would be beating the war drums for action against Mugabe and his terrorists.

[Henchster]

"You can bet that if Zimbabwe had a vast oil supply, Bush, et.al. would be beating the war drums for action against Mugabe and his terrorists."

Correction: "You can bet that if Zimbabwe had a vast oil Chemical/biological weapons supply, and had been proven to be funding/supporting terrorists acts against Americans, Bush, et.al. would be beating the war drums for action against Mugabe and his terrorists."

[St.Chuck]

Thank you for the correction.

[backhoe]

FYI- it's not a pretty subject, but one we all need to look at:

Hate Crimes - Wartime Rape Resources : The Zero 5.0laf - The ...
Click here to return to The Zero, WARTIME RAPE RESOURCES. ... These are Wartime Rape/Rape
as a Weapon of War Resources. Please also see: Hate Crimes Resources. ...
www.vachss.com/help_text/wartime_rape.html - 43k - 23 Aug 2002 - Cached - Similar pages

Rape is... - Globe Review
... Wenner Wunderlich of Cambridge Documentary Films, it offers a somber, intense look
at rape in all its forms: child abuse, date rape, stranger rape, wartime rape ...
www.cambridgedocumentaryfilms.org/ rapeis-EnglishReview.html - 8k - Cached - Similar pages

Mass Rape Ruled a War Crime
... In the past international courts such as the tribunals set up in Nuremberg and Tokyo
after the second world war have been reluctant to class wartime rape as a ...
www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0224-02.htm - 13k - Cached - Similar pages

absrr017.htm
A Typology of Wartime Rape. J. Robert Lilly, Northern Kentucky University
ABSTRACT. Some observers hold that rape, whether during ...
www.asc41.com/www/2000/absrr017.htm - 2k - Cached - Similar pages

RAPE: WEAPON OF TERROR
... This will increase public understanding for required action. Wartime rape will
hopefully begin to be treated for what it is ? a crime against humanity.". ...
www.wspc.com.sg/books/general/g063.html - 14k - Cached - Similar pages

[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

One has to wonder if Mugabe took his basic training under Pol Pot? 5 posted on 8/24/02 4:47 PM Pacific by Gritty

Pol Pot only killed two or three million or so.

By contrast, Mugabe is aiming for a real legacy.

Didymus Mutasa, the of Mr Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF, has even spoken of halving the population to six million.

"The student... has surpassed the master!!"

[Chest Rockwell]

"Come to think of it, I haven't heard anything out of NOW lately on this issue. I wonder where their outrage is?"\

You're forgetting that dark skin trumps women's rights in the pantheon of liberal causes - see Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, etc. for examples.

[2sheep]

>Didymus Mutasa, the of Mr Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF, has even spoken of halving the population to six million.

BTTT to this thread! 

[Cincinatus' Wife]

"systematic political cleansing"

BUMP!

[Movemout]

"Human rights activists believe that this is part of a programme to drive out, kill or terrify into submission all those who oppose the president. Didymus Mutasa, the of Mr Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF, has even spoken of halving the population to six million. "

It is rather difficult to believe that out of six million potential targets that the targeted population can't mount a significant opposition even if lightly armed. Their persecutors are so-called youth militias and phony "war veterans." The Jews in the WWII Warsaw ghetto had considerable success against a much better trained force.

[backhoe]

Cincy, I don't want to get my hopes too high, but I have noticed that recently more and more people are replying to some of these "Out of Africa" posts here. There seems to be increasing interest in the subject.

[elcaudillo]

Wrongo!

These ex-bushmen who run the UN and collect hundreds of thousands each per year as salaries are busy planning their new $1.7 billion digs!

This UN needs to be erased from existence and moved the hell out of America!

[Barnacle]

My sentiments exactly.

[retiredtexan]

McDonalds named a sandwich after Africa, which is a much greater sin than rape and murder, and they got piloried by Norway, but I have not heard anything about Mugabe. Maybe Mcdonalds can be extorted for lots of money, but Mugabe will tell them to bump a stump.

[martian_22]

There is nothing wrong with US foreign policy....

All is going according to plan.

We're all just wondering who's plan it is. Ultimately.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

There seems to be increasing interest in the subject.

I'm grateful for that backhoe. I know you are too.

[Le-Roy]

...and had been proven to be funding/supporting terrorists acts against Americans...

That's just the problem - Bush has not been able to make that case w/regard to Iraq, yet he's determined to invade.

[backhoe]

Any and all lifting of "the liberal Iron Curtain of Silence" on this subject is welcomed by me. At least some of the radio talk show hosts have mentioned this all along, and still are talking about it. The information is leaking out...

[Avoiding_Sulla]

Listees, please pass this along to those who are probably deaf anyway. And -- oh please -- especially pick those who are sure to feign outrage.

Didymus Mutasa, the [sic]* of Mr Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF, has even spoken of halving the population to six million.

*I think what was left out here could very well have been the Orwellian title Minister of Fertility

On a world wide scale, this is (going to be) a drop in the bucket. Are you going to just stand there and hope that a God you have lost touch with (hence you don't pray) will save you and yours from a similar fate?

As Mugabe's Zimbabwe is now a staple source of information for the Death Cultivation bump list, those of you who claim to find these developments horrific are going to be faced with some of the toughest questions ever placed in full view of the common man.

Whilst major media provides us but glimpses, horrid details far worse than those of this story come across the newswires and are buried and ignored. When the full truth is finally laid out by internet sites it is stared at blankly by those like yourself. If you are still wondering why nobody does anything, you may be one of the few here who haven't really noticed what IS being done, and quite deliberately.

So, oh you brave souls, how long are you gonna cower and continue to say and do nothing?
You gonna claim that you cannot see that Zimbabwe is but a nother insignificant event? You gonna say you it's impossible that this is representative worldwide of how little power and influence remains in the hands people with God based morality and decency?

You really don't see that Zimbabwe is only the latest transparent crucible whereby our ertwhile ubermenschen, demigod, megalomaniacal world leaders demonstrate how at their mercy they have you? Isn't it time that you gained a smidgeon of nerve enough to at least sneer at those who claim to represent you?

How long are you gonna turn a blind eye to the death cultivation that is creeping closer, ever closer, to your own door? </restraint> <G>