Observers hope their presence will diminish violence

International observers monitoring the run-up to Zimbabwe's parliamentary elections next week said they hoped their
presence would serve to diminish intimidation and violence which has swept rural areas of the country claiming at least 30 lives.

The deputy head of the European Union (EU) mission, Senator Tana de Zulueta of Spain, told IRIN on Thursday after a visit to the city of Mutare near the Mozambique border that "we hope our presence will have a pacifying influence on the situation".

This week, the Commonwealth deployed 44 monitors throughout the country, and the EU dispatched more than 94 observers to the field. Travelling extensively, they are also to be joined by observers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and other local and international observers.

De Zulueta said that her first mission, to Mutare, and the surrounding countryside where the home of an opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) candidate and 14 others had been burnt to the ground by ruling ZANU-PF party supporters, had passed off without incident.

"We were able to travel in the area and meet with people freely. I noted that MDC people were able to campaign in the town without visible harassment. But because these homes were burnt down before we got there, the EU plans to deploy extra observers in the area and show our presence in the expectation that it will calm things down."

Other observers told IRIN they "noted with concern" the intimidation of school teachers in rural Zimbabwe and what they called a "disturbing picture" showing a "consistent pattern" of intimidation and violence against opposition supporters.

Earlier, Western diplomats told IRIN of an incident this week in which a team of EU observers were followed in one of the poorer neighbourhoods of the capital, Harare, by ZANU-PF supporters who stopped their vehicle: "They were told they should have been there by appointment only. But as experienced observers, they decided to leave and avoid any sort of confrontation," a diplomat said. "They asked for their names - which they
gave, but they refused to give them the name of their driver which they also demanded. They felt that they had been tailed."

The Commonwealth team, led by former Nigerian strongman Abdulsalami Abubakar, meanwhile, rejected warnings by independence war veterans not to speak to workers on occupied white-owned farms. "Our job is to go and observe. If there is a polling station on farmland, of course we will be meeting with voters," Abubakar said.

Western diplomats, however, cited concern at the accreditation process for international observers in Zimbabwe who are required to pay a US $100 dollar fee. The accreditation process has also prevented some teams from deploying to the countryside.

"We have been here for a week already, and we are still awaiting our accreditation," Peter Manikas, head a team of eight from the
Washington-based National Democratic Institute (NDI) told IRIN. "It has been difficult for us and we are in constant touch with the government on this."