Human Rights Groups Record Hundreds of Government Assaults on Civilians in Zimbabwe in 37 Day Period
17 April 2007 | Printer Friendly

According to the New York Times, human rights groups in Zimbabwe have started to “tally attacks” that are orchestrated by the government in its “campaign of abductions and beatings aimed at critics of President Robert G. Mugabe.”    This follows the claim by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) that “government agents had arrested or beaten at least 600 party members since the campaign began Feb 18th,” adding that 150 of the victims have “suffered life threatening injuries.” 

The New York Times report says that a non-partisan human rights group in the country claims there has been attacks on 150 residents, 99 of which were MDC members, including high-ranking officials, between February 18th and March 26th.  The report claims that there was another 100 other incidents of government-violence, “most of which occurred as the police broke up opposition party rallies.”  The group also says their report probably represents 1/5th of the actual attacks because many fear repercussions for reporting the incidents.

The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights, a non-political body, also says that their figures of 48 hospitalizations and “175 lesser medical treatments” are not representative of the amount of violence going on, because “people are told not to seek medical treatment,” and are “simply terrified” to do so. 

According to the New York Times “many of the victims’ have been beaten by politics officers after being arrested and jailed,” and that “many more have been abducted from their homes.”  They are then taken “to rural areas where they are severely beaten.”  The report also claims that “the attacks appear to be direct largely at crippling the only opposition party of note in Zimbabwe (the MDC)…before a scheduled presidential election next March.” 

The Zimbabwean government has not commented on the string of assaults.

For more information on the assaults, visit CCD’s “Zimbabwe Country Watch.”

Source:

New York Times: Rights Groups in Zimbabwe Tally Attacks on Opposition