Posted on 05/26/2003 4:40:54 AM PDT by Clive
Johannesburg - A report by the Australian government alleging rape by soldiers, torture in youth camps and the beating up of children in Zimbabwe was presented to the Commonwealth in London this week, a media report said on Sunday.
The Sunday Times newspaper said the "Record of Abuse and Repression by the Zimbabwean Government", was presented to a Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group meeting in London by Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.
"This crackdown occurs amid serious allegations of rape and torture at camps in Zimbabwe, with particular concern regarding Border Gezi youth camps set up to indoctrinate young Zimbabweans," the report said.
Australia, which chairs the 54-nation Commonwealth, is pressing for sanctions against Zimbabwe to be stepped up in addition to its suspension from all the Commonwealth's councils.
The report said Australian diplomats "witnessed what was clearly the result of several vicious beatings by army personnel, including beatings with sticks wrapped in barbed wire".
It documented the "repression of the opposition"; how the March 2002 presidential election was rigged; the politicisation of food distribution; and infringements of civil and political rights, including the curtailing of media freedom.
During the past 18 months, 42 senior opposition Movement for Democratic Change officials had been arrested and many of them tortured in custody, the report said.
It quoted a human rights political report which found that 58 murders, 111 cases of unlawful detention, 170 cases of unlawful arrest, 67 cases of assault, 227 cases of abduction and 1 060 cases of torture had occurred.
Australia claimed Zanu-PF had politicised food distribution through among others monopolising imports through the Grain Marketing Board, requiring party membership as condition for purchasing food in some locations and allowing party officials or to profit from the re-sale of food at exorbitant black market prices.
The report said only between 20 percent and 50 percent of redistributed commercial farms had been taken up, with the rest lying fallow.
It said according to the Famine Early Warning System Network, between 600 and 1 000 commercial farms were operational, a sharp decrease from 4 400 in 2000.
There appeared to have been no killings of white farmers since April 2002 as the majority left their land voluntarily, by force or by intimidation, the report said.
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