Mugabe mendacity continues

Washington Post:

President Robert Mugabe's post-election campaign of violence has reached a level and intensity not seen in Zimbabwe in 20 years, according to human rights workers struggling to track a surge of killings, torture, beatings, false arrests and arson attacks ahead of a presidential runoff.

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The most lethal attack so far happened here in Chaona, a village 65 miles north of Harare. Witnesses say that dozens of armed men, led by ruling party officials, rampaged through here the night of May 5, battering seven opposition activists to death. Large splashes of dried blood were still visible on the ground and on the sides of buildings a week later.

One man said he was beaten as if he were "an animal." The attackers stoned another man, beat him with clubs, then left him to die in a cornfield. One group grabbed a 79-year-old widow, yanked up her skirt, then lashed her bare buttocks with barbed-wire whips as two dozen terrified relatives looked on. The woman, Martha Mucheto, said she cried in pain and shame.

"If none of you confesses, we will hit this granny until she's dead," Mucheto, a great-grandmother and former nurse's aide, recalled hearing. She spoke from a hospital bed in Harare.

Political violence has been most severe in the rural areas that once were Mugabe strongholds. Analysts say that weakened support in these areas contributed to Mugabe's historic second-place finish in the March 29 election. The runoff is necessary because neither candidate got a majority of votes, according to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.

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Political analyst Eldred Masunungure said the attacks are intended to win back support for the ruling party through terror.

"ZANU-PF is really saying that act of betrayal, of ingratitude, will not go unpunished," he said. "The idea is to teach the rest of the villagers a lesson by isolating an individual."

Human rights groups put the death toll from the violence at 25 but say it may be far higher. More than 1,000 people have been injured, according to official counts, and tens of thousands have fled their homes.

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If I were the opposition I would campaign on the basis that the only way to end the reign of terror is to vote against the terrorist in charge. I think it could be an effective campaign. It would be political jujitsu to turn the thuggish behavior of Mugabe against him.