Posted on 04/18/2008 2:50:34 PM PDT by blam
Robert Mugabe 'mobilising command centres for national terror campaign'
By Peta Thornycroft in Harare
Last Updated: 8:06pm BST 18/04/2008
Hundreds of "command centres" led by war veterans in police uniforms are being established across Zimbabwe to wage a national terror campaign, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.
These centres are responsible for keeping President Robert Mugabe in power through intimidation, violence and ballot-rigging.
Watch: Robert Mugabe hits out at Britain in his Independence Day speech
By these methods, the regime plans to guarantee victory for Mr Mugabe in the presidential election's second round.
Three weeks after the poll's first round, no official results have been announced, but the regime has publicly acknowledged that Mr Mugabe fell short of the 50 per cent threshold needed to avoid a run-off.
A senior army officer and a police chief described the president's re-election plan to The Daily Telegraph in Harare.
At national level, the effort is being overseen by the Joint Operations Command, a committee of armed service chiefs.
The two sources attended a meeting in a rural province on Monday morning.
This gathering, which included traditional chiefs and local politicians, was addressed by two senior members of Mr Mugabe's regime.
They said that "command centres" will be established in all the province's local government wards. Zimbabwe has about 1,800 of these wards.
The network will probably not cover the cities, all strongholds of support for Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader. Instead, they will be concentrated in the rural areas where 70 per cent of Zimbabweans live.
Each command centre will consist of three policemen, one soldier, and a war veteran who will be in charge.
They will dispatch militias, comprised of war veterans and the ruling Zanu-PF party's youth wing, to assault and torture known opposition supporters.
They will also control the local police to ensure that the militias are immune from arrest.
A terror campaign of this kind, organised in the same way, delivered victory for Mr Mugabe in the parliamentary and presidential polls of 2000 and 2002.
Victims are likely to be taken to the "command centres" for beatings and torture.
In the past, Zanu-PF's torture methods have included stripping victims naked and dripping burning plastic over their bodies.
At the meeting on Monday, a senior member of the regime told the chiefs that a "black against black" war will start if Mr Mugabe loses.
He added that even if the United Nations deploys peacekeepers, by then people will have died.
"You have to defend the revolution," said the politician. "If you don't and it is sold through the ballot we will go back to the bush and fight."
Hundreds of people have been assaulted and at least two murdered since the election on March 29.
Mr Mugabe today claimed credit for introducing democracy in Zimbabwe.
Speaking on the 28th anniversary of independence from British rule, he said: "Today we hear the British saying there's no democracy here, people are being oppressed, there's dictatorship, there's no observance of human rights, rule of law.
"We, not the British, established democracy based on one person, one vote. We are the ones who brought democracy to this country, we are the ones who removed the oppression which was here."
I’d call this guy wickedness itself but that would probably make me a racist, hunh?
This dog is diseased and needs to be put down. Now.
The U.N. will bitch slap him with a fist full of meaningless resolutions.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Another one of Jimmy’s friends supporting freedom and democracy!! Oh, and he’s also one of Andy’s friends as well!
“We are the ones who brought democracy to this country”
OK. Fair enough.
Who are the ones that are going to take democracy away?
Wow. What a relief that we will never again have to suffer through the prosperity and relative calm that existed when the place was Rhodesia. /S
One would think that the coming Revolutionary War in Zimbabwe would be getting a bit more of the world’s attention. I guess we are too focused on polar bears and melting ice caps to notice.
I give
Somebody kill this POS already.
Are the people armed?
To paraphrase PJ O'Rourke, you can save more starving people by offing those who cause the starvation than by sending food.
Hundreds of “command centres” led by war veterans in police uniforms are being established across Zimbabwe to wage a national terror campaign
Translation. Some thugs with .50 cal machine guns mounted on technicals are taking over the nearest hut and laying in a supply of Khat.
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Probably find out that Mugabe is a big pal of his dad and thirteen of his stepmothers/step-grandmothers, and that would look bad.
Hillary should say something about Democracy in Africa and see if Obama is too chicken to weigh in.
It sounds as if many are in a state of near-starvation, so I hope they have the strength to wield them, if they're armed.
Someone? Anyone?
Just put down a rabid dog for a nice reward?
Any takers?
Sounds like the tactics of Seattle/King County.
> Mr Mugabe today claimed credit for introducing democracy in Zimbabwe.
>
> Speaking on the 28th anniversary of independence from British rule, he said: “Today we hear the British saying there’s no democracy here, people are being oppressed, there’s dictatorship, there’s no observance of human rights, rule of law.
>
> “We, not the British, established democracy based on one person, one vote. We are the ones who brought democracy to this country, we are the ones who removed the oppression which was here.”
So speaks one of the most dangerous unhanged villains of the African Continent. This buffoon ought to be funny except he is deadly serious.
The West would do the people of Rhodesia the world of good if it would fund a group of Mercenaries to help topple Mugabe’s regime, and turn a blind eye as he gets the chop.
In less than ten years time, South Africa will be just like this. Wasn’t it a great idea to get rid of apartheid?
(Well, wasn’t it?)
I agree with that.
Someone needs to ask Mugabe what ever happened to the white farmers in Zimbabwe. They were brutally murdered by Mugabe’s henchmen, and the survivors were forced to abandon their farms and flee the country with just the clothes on their backs. Zimbabwe has been ethnically cleaned of whites, nost of whom had lived their entire lives in Zimbabwe, as had their parents, and their parents before them. Obambi seems to be on good terms with African dictators (who, incidentally, are marxists like Obambi).
“The U.N. will bitch slap him with a fist full of meaningless resolutions.”
No it won’t. Most of the members of the UN agree with Mugabe.
They got what they asked for, voted for, and wanted. Old joke: an African couple are sitting in the dark, wondering how to prepare their food. Suddenly, the lights come on, and gas flows to the stove. The husband says, "Honey, go fetch my machete. The whites are in power again."
LMAO, Good tag line also!
africawinsagain...
If I were Mugabe, I would lose the election, leave the mess to the next guy, and go live on the Riviera, off my Swiss bank account. Why hang on when this thing is just about to crash? It can’t be that he really cares.
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