(Adds MDC comments, background on Shiri, U.N. warning) By MacDonald Dzirutwe HARARE, Dec 16 (Reuters) - The head of Zimbabwe's air force, who is a close ally of President Robert Mugabe, was shot and wounded in an assassination attempt at the weekend, state media said on Tuesday. The shooting of Air Marshal Perence Shiri on Saturday appeared designed to destabilise Zimbabwe, Minister of Home Affairs Kembo Mohadi was quoted as saying in the Herald newspaper. Zimbabwe is suffering economic collapse and a cholera epidemic that has killed almost 1,000 people, prompting renewed calls for Mugabe to step down. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) accuses Shiri and other commanders of leading a violent election run-off campaign in June that resulted in party leader Morgan Tsvangirai boycotting the vote. Mugabe was re-elected unopposed. Shiri escaped with a gunshot wound and is recovering at a Harare hospital. "The attack on Air Marshal Shiri appears to be a build-up of terror attacks targeting high profile persons, government officials, government establishments and public transportation systems," Mohadi was quoted as saying. It was not immediately clear which other attacks he was referring to. Zimbabwe has accused neighbouring Botswana of training opposition insurgents to topple Mugabe, who has ruled since independence in 1980. It also says the United States and former colonial power Britain are plotting against him. Shiri was shot on the way to his farm, which was seized from a white farmer in 2000 in a campaign condemned by Mugabe's Western critics. Both Botswana and the MDC have denied the accusation that insurgents are being trained there. Shiri is a former commander of the North Korean-trained army 5th Brigade, which was accused of spearheading a crackdown on opposition in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces in the 1980s. Human rights groups say up to 10,000 people died in the campaign, which eliminated Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe African Peoples' Union (ZAPU) as a serious political rival. The government says the operation targeted dissidents who threatened to destabilise the county and disputes the casualty figures. But Mugabe has previously described the crackdown as "a moment of madness." ACCUSATIONS The MDC in a statement accused the ruling ZANU-PF of violence against its members and of trying to finger party activists in the attack on Shiri. It said 20 MDC activists have been abducted by ZANU-PF. The ruling party has denied similar MDC accusations. "Instead of carrying out proper investigations resulting in the shooting of Shiri, the regime, which has been hard hit by internal hemorrhage in the party's top hierarchy, is coming up with false allegations that the MDC is training its members in banditry activities in neighbouring Botswana," the MDC said. Dozens of MDC members have been arrested on terror charges but have been cleared by the courts. The MDC says Mugabe uses such charges when under pressure, especially from the West. Demands for Mugabe, 84, to resign have intensified because of a cholera epidemic that the United Nations says has killed nearly 1,000 Zimbabweans. The U.N. World Food Programme said it may have to cut food rations to millions of hungry Zimbabweans, despite the epidemic, because of a lack of response to a special appeal. Regional countries, which have so far failed to mediate a breakthrough, are losing patience with Zimbabwe's political leaders over implementation of a Sept. 15 power-sharing deal, held up by a squabble over cabinet posts. "We are concerned that they are taking longer to finalise the agreement while the humanitarian situation is deteriorating, South Africa's ruling ANC leader Jacob Zuma told supporters at a rally on Tuesday. "We have a responsibility to push them all in the right direction, and will continue to do so." (macdonald.dzirutwe@reuters.com; +263 4 799 112) (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/)
A woman suffering from the symptoms of cholera is taken in a wheelbarrow to a clinic in Harare December 12, 2008. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe announced on Thursday his government had ...
