Redstate

By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in Begone I Say And Let Us Have Done With You | Contra Tyrannum | Robert Mugabe | Zimbabwe — Comments (3) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

I mean, how else do you explain this?

AS ROBERT MUGABE, Zimbabwe's president, raised hackles at a United Nations food summit in Rome this week, his henchmen at home have been getting down to the violent business of making sure that their man wins the run-off presidential election scheduled for June 27th. Neighbouring countries continue to call plaintively for a peaceful vote. But on the evidence so far the election will be neither peaceful nor fair.

Arthur Mutambara, the leader of a splinter of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was arrested on June 1st for writing an editorial criticising the president. Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC's leader and the man who bested Mr Mugabe in the first round in March, was detained by the police for nine hours on Wednesday while on the campaign trail. Many opposition rallies have been banned and scores of opposition activists arrested. A ruthless campaign of repression has, so the MDC claims, left 65 of its supporters dead since March. Thousands have been severely injured and perhaps 25,000 people displaced.

In an ominous sign of how the election campaign might affect those who are suffering most under Mr Mugabe, Care International, an aid agency, has had to suspend its relief operations after being accused by the government of supporting the opposition, a charge it denies. Human Rights Watch, a monitoring group, reports that the authorities have blocked some other aid agencies from distributing food in several provinces until after the election.

The beating, kidnapping and killing of MDC activists has gravely weakened the opposition party's local organisations. Areas that were former strongholds of ZANU-PF, the ruling party, which dared to switch to the opposition in March, have now been turned into no-go areas for the MDC. Mr Tsvangirai plans to visit the ZANU-PF heartland of Mashonaland but ensuring his safety there will not be easy, as his party has not been licensed to carry firearms or even radios. A prominent human-rights lawyer fled to South Africa this week following threats against his life.

See also this post and this one. As amazing as it may sound, the story of Robert Mugabe's repressive tactics has not nearly gotten as much play as it deserves to get.