Government denies accusations of violence

A Zimbabwean government official on Monday denied media reports that the army had been deployed in the opposition's Matabeleland stronghold and was allegedly intimidating villagers.

The official told IRIN that the security forces were in the southern province to "prevent violence, not commit violence".

He was responding to a news report in the Johannesburg-based Sunday Times, which quoted unnamed human rights organisations as saying that they had been told by villagers in the province that soldiers had beaten them up. Matabeleland was the scene of a "dissident" campaign in the 1980s which was suppressed by troops who committed well-documented atrocities against the civilian population.

Home Affairs Minister John Nkomo told delegates at the ruling ZANU-PF party congress in Victoria Falls on Friday that the deployment was an attempt to keep peace in response to "terrorist" attacks on party officials by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

President Robert Mugabe also accused the MMD of "terrorism" at the party congress, which he said would not be allowed "to continue unchecked". He repeatedly used metaphors of war to describe the political campaign ahead of presidential elections in March.

"This is war, this is not a game. This is the third chimurenga (uprising). You are soldiers of ZANU-PF for the people," he warned delegates. "When we come to your province, we must see you ready as the commanders, when the time comes to fire the bullet, the ballot, the trajectory of the gun must be true," he reportedly said.

The government official told IRIN that Mugabe's castigation of the MMD "was not an incitement to violence" but an "exhortation to the party to gear up for the challenges ahead".

Meanwhile, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Sunday that he would not be deterred by police harassment or Mugabe's rhetoric, according to news reports. At the weekend Tsvangirai spent a second day at a Harare police station where he was charged with using an unlicensed two-way radio. He denied that the device belonged to him and insisted it did not require a licence. But if convicted he could face two years in prison.

Tsvangirai said the charge was an inconvenience. According to a London Times report, he was more concerned with the threat of political violence. "Mugabe has never abandoned violence and we will see more of it before the campaign," he forecast. "But we have the support of the people and they are determined to see irrevocable change take place in this country."