Posted on 08/30/2002 4:04:22 AM PDT by Clive
Johannesburg - President Robert Mugabe's new "war cabinet" has apparently started with a fierce onslaught on the independent media, civil-rights groups and the political opposition in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe's police raided the offices of human-rights organisation Amani Trust in Harare on Thursday afternoon, and arrested Dr Frances Lovemore.
Lovemore had said in a report at the weekend that Zanu-PF militants were raping hundreds of women and children as part of a retribution campaign against the opposition.
It is claimed, too, that a bomb attack on the office of independent radio station Voice of the People Communications (VOP) on Thursday was the work of government agents. The VOP is another thorn in Mugabe's side.
David Masunda, deputy editor of independent Zimbabwean newspaper The Financial Gazette, alleged on Thursday that government agents were involved in him being drugged by two women in a Johannesburg hotel.
Masunda is also a director of the VOP.
Professor Masipula Sithole, a political analyst at the University of Zimbabwe, said on Thursday the composition of Mugabe's "war cabinet", sworn in on Monday, indicated that he wanted to consolidate his power by surrounding himself with loyalists.
The appointment of Kembo Mohadi as home affairs minister, in particular, in place of John Nkomo showed that Mugabe wanted to crush all opposition for good.
"The unyielding elements inside Zanu-PF have been campaigning to have Nkomo moved for a long time. They want a hawk (Mohadi), who will clamp down on the political opposition, in control of home affairs."
Tendai Bitte, the Movement for Democratic Change's spokesperson on home affairs, has warned in reaction to the composition of Mugabe's cabinet that violence and retribution will increase against the opposition in Zimbabwe.
The state-controlled Herald, a Zanu-PF mouthpiece, attacked the MDC in its lead article on Thursday because the party allegedly wants to undermine the Zimbabwean economy by asking foreign investors at the Earth Summit in Sandton to withdraw from Zimbabwe.
The Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) said on Thursday evening in a statement that the bomb attack on the VOP office in Harare was part of Zanu-PF's campaign to silence critical voices.
Geez, I just hate when that happens!
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