Up to 50,000 displaced need help - rights group

Human rights group Zimbabwe in Crisis appealed for urgent assistance on Friday for at least 50,000 people who it says have been displaced by political violence and land seizures.

"We are dealing with a humanitarian crisis and are asking organisations like the United Nations and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees to help," said spokesman Kumbirai Hodzi.

Hodzi said the displaced were mainly rural victims of political intimidation and farmworkers rendered homeless through land seizures. The worst hit areas were Chimanimani, Mashonaland east, west and central and the farmlands of Shamva, Norton and Mazowe, Hodzi told IRIN.

"There is a hooligan element to the farm seizures. The farmers are not allowed to take anything from the farm and there is a lot of crime and extortion involved. Some (farmers) are being kidnapped and held hostage, some are being taken to the bank in Norton and forced to draw money and told the war veterans will pay the farm workers, but they (farmworkers) don't get the money. The farmers are living with friends and are not allowed to go back and the farmworkers are almost destitute," he told IRIN.

Hodzi said in some rural areas won by ZANU-PF, those who voted for the Movement for Democratic Change were being driven out of their villages. "It is a human tragedy. People are reaching out for help - they haven't eaten for days. At least 500 people are camped out at Birchenough Bridge (in the south east of the country)," he said.

Hodzi told IRIN his organisation was battling to establish safe houses and centres for those displaced because as soon as their names were publicised, they came under attack and were forced to relocate. The organisation met the UNDP on Thursday and wanted the World Food Programme to help. "We want to establish a sanctuary for these people."

Aid organisations contacted by IRIN could not say how many people have been displaced, but World Vision Operations Director Marko Ngwenya said he would be meeting field workers to investigate the reports and assess whether his organisation could help.