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Zimbabwe resumes demolitions despite promises
EFL: Harare - Zimbabwe has resumed destroying homes and has flattened the country's biggest slum, witnesses said on Tuesday, a day after United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan said he plans to visit the country to discuss the controversial demolition campaign. Zimbabwean anti-riot police beat up people and torched property as they razed the Porta Farm slum housing some 20 000 residents, witnesses said. "Police started chasing away and beating up people on (Monday) night, saying we were refusing to leave," said a former squatter at the Porta Farm slum, requesting anonymity.The destruction of Porta Farm marks a resumption of the government's controversial demolition campaign, which authorities said last week they had halted to give people time to obtain necessary permits for their homes and other buildings. The demolitions came hours after Annan said on Monday that he had accepted an invitation to visit Zimbabwe to discuss a damning UN report on Harare's demolition of urban slums that has left hundreds of thousands of people homeless. Posted by: Steve 2005-07-26 |
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