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Zimbabwe army denies attacks as MDC claims six more dead
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 08 - 05 - 2008

The Zimbabwean army distanced its members
from post-election attacks on the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC), which said Thursday 30 of its members had been killed
in attacks by supporters of President Robert Mugabe, according to dpa.
The MDC says soldiers and Zanu-PF militia are behind the
month-long campaign of violence in mostly rural areas, which it says
is aimed at punishing those who voted against Mugabe in March 29
presidential elections ahead of a possible second round of voting.
A runoff was called for after MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai topped
the poll but failed to win an outright majority of more than 50 per
cent. Tsvangirai took 47.9 per cent to Mugabe's 43.2 per cent in
official results.
The MDC said Thursday six of its members had died in hospital in
Chiweshe, 100 kilometres north of the capital Harare, since Monday of
injuries sustained in an attack by soldiers on Sunday, bringing to 30
its election dead.
A high-level South African delegation, which is in Zimbabwe for
talks on conditions for a runoff election and to investigate
political violence, travelled to Chiweshe to investigate the report,
official sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Zimbabwe National Army spokesman Major Alphios Makotore, in a
statement sent to state media obtained by dpa, said the people in
army uniform terrorizing people were bogus soldiers.
"The army categorically distances itself and any of its members
from such activities."
But MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said the party had information
that more than 200 soldiers had been deployed in the countryside to
attack opposition supporters.
"Only those who are not in Zimbabwe cannot believe that some
members of the army have turned against the people it is supposed to
protect," said Chamisa.
Zimbabwe's police have repeatedly refuted the MDC's violence
claims and in turn accused the MDC of retaliatory attacks.
Police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena told the state-run Herald
newspaper Thursday that one of the people the MDC said was killed by
Zanu-PF militia had died of an illness.
Bvudzijena said the MDC polling agent that the MDC said had died
of injuries sustained in an attack had in fact died of "chronic
meningitis, disseminated tuberculosis and clinical immuno-
suppression."
Bvudzijena did concede, however, that the dead man clashed with a
Zanu-PF supporter two weeks before his death.
The violence, which rights groups say runs both ways between the
Zanu-PF and the MDC but with Zanu-PF supporters accounting for the
far greater share, has cast doubts over an imminent election runoff.
On Wednesday one southern African and one African election
observer group said a runoff election was unadvisable in the current
political climate.
A farmworkers' union said Thursday that 40,000 black farm workers
had been chased off the land by Zanu-PF youth militia during a fresh
spate of invasions of white-owned farms.
Because Zimbabweans are obliged to vote in their ward, the
internally displaced would probably not be able to vote in the mooted
presidential runoff.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has yet to announce a date for
the second round but has hinted it could be anytime within the next
12 months.
Mugabe has promised to take part but Tsvangirai, who claims he won
outright in March, has yet to announce his intentions.


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