U.N. Envoy Probes Zimbabwe Crackdown

AP on Yahoo ^ | 6/26/05 | Michael Hartnick - AP

[NormsRevenge]

HARARE, Zimbabwe - An envoy for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Zimbabwe on Sunday to investigate a government-sponsored campaign that has destroyed the homes and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans.

Hours before the arrival of Anna Tibaijuka, head of the seven-member delegation, a state-run newspaper reported that the government was finishing the campaign dubbed Operation Murambatsvina, or Drive Out Trash.

The Sunday Mail report was dismissed by the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change. Party spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi said the destruction of shanty towns continued unabated over the weekend in the southern border town of Beitbridge.

Since the campaign was launched May 19, police have torched and bulldozed tens of thousands of shacks, street stalls and even the vegetable gardens planted by the urban poor at a time of acute food shortages. Estimates of the number affected range between 300,000 and 1.5 million.

President Robert Mugabe says the campaign is necessary to fight crime and maintain health standards in Zimbabwe's cities. But the opposition, which has its strongholds among the urban poor, says the blitz is intended to punish its supporters, who voted against the government in recent parliamentary elections.

Mugabe told his party he had agreed to meet with Annan's envoy "so as to enable the secretary-general to understand and appreciate what we are trying to do."

Tibaijuka was expected to meet with Mugabe early in the week, U.N. spokeswoman Katherine Anderson said. She will also tour towns and cities where the operation is taking place. Her visit is expected to last several days, Anderson said.

Also on the agenda are meetings with legislators, including the opposition, church leaders and others who have been helping those affected.

Mugabe's government has sought to curb the independent media, and only state accredited journalists were allowed to meet with Tibaijuka upon her arrival Sunday afternoon.

The government's campaign — in which 42,000 people have been arrested, fined or had their goods confiscated — has provoked an international outcry.

The independent Sunday Standard newspaper reported at least six people have died. They include two children crushed under collapsing walls, two more children and a woman who died of pneumonia after being left exposed to the winter cold, and a man who committed suicide. Some 300,000 children have been forced to quit school after they were driven from their homes, the paper said.

[NormsRevenge]

In this photo issued by the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) South African President Thabo Mbeki, right, speaks after a meeting with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, left, in Pretoria, South Africa, Saturday, June 25, 2005. Mbeki told reporters he had discussed the Zimbabwean campaign on Friday with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, and would respond to the situation after a U.N. envoy had visited and reported on Zimbabwe next week. (AP Photo/Elmond Jiyane, GCIS, HO)

[Cincinatus' Wife]

The U.N won't help.