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Final phase of Zimbabwe crackdown
Zimbabwe's police say their operation against street traders and illegal housing is entering its final day. More than 22,000 people have been arrested and tens of thousands left homeless in the two-week crackdown. The government says the move is needed to clean up Zimbabwe's cities but some feel it is punishment for areas which voted for the opposition. Lobby group Amnesty International has called for an end to the demolitions, which some are calling the "tsunami".
"Lobby group Amnesty International", BBC finally called one right for a change.
Whole shantytowns and markets have been razed to the ground, while the police are now targeting houses illegally built on farms around the capital, Harare, some of which were seized under the government's controversial land reform programme. "Amnesty International is appalled by this flagrant disregard for human rights. Forced evictions without due process, legal protection, redress and appropriate relocation measures, are completely contrary to international human rights law," said Amnesty's Africa Programme director Kolawole Olaniyan.
"Everything was destroyed without notice," Ernest Rautavaara told the Reuters news agency, standing in front of a half-demolished concrete building which was once a vegetable market. "This is the true meaning of tsunami," he said.
Amnesty said it had received reports that people had been forced to pull down their own homes but police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said this was a sign that people were co-operating with "Operation Restore Order".
With a gun to their head
The police say the operations is targeted at criminals and black marketeers who are subverting the economy.
Reuters reports that open spaces in the poor Mbare district near Harare city centre have been turned into giant warehouses for goods salvaged from the police "tsunami". People are sleeping in the open, even though Zimbabwe's winter has begun. "We are suffering, we have nowhere to go. Our houses were destroyed," said Victoria Muchenje. "Our children are not going to school, we are sleeping outside everywhere... if you walk, everywhere you see people sleeping in the road."
Meanwhile, Social Welfare Minister Nicholas Goche has denied that Zimbabwe needs food aid. He told state radio that the government had bought 1.2m tonnes of corn from South Africa to cover poor harvests.
Earlier this week, World Food Programme chief James Morris said Zimbabwe faced "an enormous humanitarian crisis", with between 3 and 4 million people needing food aid in the next year. Mr Goche, however, said that Zimbabwe would welcome any food it was offered. Zimbabwe has been accused of manipulating food aid for political reasons - downplaying shortages ahead of elections and depriving opposition areas of food.
The government denies that its seizure of white-owned farms has led to the food shortages. It blames poor rains and a western plot to remove President Robert Mugabe from power.
Posted by: Steve 2005-06-03
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=120677