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ZIMBABWE: Thousands displaced from flooding; experts brace for more
06 Aug 2008 18:39:16 GMT
 Source: IRIN

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DAKAR, 6 August 2008 (IRIN) - A UN draft resolution that would ban travel abroad and freeze the overseas assets of members of Zimbabwe's ruling elite is being seen by political analysts as a ploy to divide the ruling ZANU-PF party.

The draft names President Robert Mugabe and 13 other (see below) high-ranking officials as instrumental in the political violence that has swept the country since 29 march, when ZANU-PF lost its majority in parliament for the first time since independence in 1980, and Mugabe came off second best to opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai in the first round of presidential voting.

Absent from the list are the country's two vice-presidents, Joseph Msika and Joyce Mujuru, and parliamentary speaker John Nkomo; together with Mugabe, they occupy the top four ZANU-PF positions.

An analyst, who declined to be named, said: "The impression being created by not adding vice-president Mujuru and her husband, retired general Solomon Mujuru, is that they are moderates who are prepared to negotiate with the international community to bring normalcy back.

"It is no coincidence that the Mujuru faction is not on the list, after having tried to oust Mugabe by sponsoring former finance minister Simba Makoni to contest against Mugabe in the first presidential election. The plan was that if Makoni beat Mugabe then he would return as leader of ZANU-PF, but that failed to work."

Jimmy Ranganai, a political analyst based in the capital, Harare, said a plan to divide ZANU-PF could backfire. "Mugabe and his henchmen are not blind to the plan to divide ZANU-PF.

"What may happen is that those who have been left out of the list might be asked to prove their loyalty by leading campaigns of violence. Those who are not on the list will obviously be labelled as 'sell-outs', which would be effective in dividing ZANU-PF. A comprehensive list would have seen everybody in ZANU-PF closing ranks and uniting, but these [omissions] could cause confusion."

Former government minister Prof Jonathan Moyo said although the "divide and rule" tactics were obvious, the list had inconsistencies, especially the presence of agriculture minister Joseph Made, and the absence of [vice-president] Msika.

"This creates a lot of inconsistencies and moves the focus away from the election violence. They should be looking at things like crimes against humanity, and not whether this politician is a lousy minister or not," Moyo told IRIN.

A pro-democracy activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the list would be incomplete without all the editors of state-controlled newspapers, and radio and television stations, who solidly backed Mugabe during the brutal campaign period.

"The State media was very complicit in terms of covering up heinous acts of brutality committed by ZANU-PF supporters, and cheering Mugabe and the military when they declared that they would not accept a president other than one from ZANU-PF.

"It is for the same reason that I think the leadership of the war veterans association should be on the list, because their members have unleashed a reign of terror in the countryside. The only mitigating factor is that their leader, Jabulani Sibanda, has publicly said he condemns violence."

Another political analyst said Elliot Manyika, the ZANU-PF secretary for the commissariat, which is responsible for "mobilising" supporters, was "curiously absent", as was the minister for youth development, Ambrose Mutinhiri and his deputy, Saviour Kasukuwere, who mobilised the ZANU-PF militia.

Other members of the security forces absent from the list are Edmore Veterai, an assistant police commissioner who continues to lead land invasions, Brig-Gen Douglas Nyikayaramba and Maj-Gen Angelbert Rugeje, who have both been implicated in leading violent campaigns.

However, the commander of the Zimbabwe National Army, Lt-Gen Philip Sibanda, and other colleagues who had their roots in the rival liberation movement, Patriotic Front-Zimbabwe African People's Union (PF-ZAPU), are not on the list.

A ZANU-PF Politburo member, who declined to be identified but whose political credentials came from PF-ZAPU, said those from PF-ZAPU had refused to participate in any violent campaigns.

"From 1982 to 1987, more than 20,000 PF-ZAPU supporters were murdered by the military. We told our colleagues that we would not endorse the murder of our people for votes," he commented.

Soon after independence in 1980, Mugabe launched Operation Gukurahundi [Shona for "the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains"] in Matabeleland North and South province, in southwestern Zimbabwe.

"We told them that if they wanted to use murder and violence, then they should do it in Mashonaland [the northern and eastern provinces of the country]," the politburo member said.

"That is why there were never any serious acts of political violence in Matabeleland, because we said, 'our people had already received enough trauma from armed state agents in the 1980s'."

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© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org


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