Army warns it will crackdown on unrest

The Zimbabwe Defence Force (ZDF) has warned the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) that it will not be "an idle observer" during next week's protests planned by the MDC.

On Monday the opposition plans to start the "final push" in its campaign of stayaways to force the government to accede to its demands for political and economic reform. It hopes to sustain the protest until Friday.

The police, the Department of Home Affairs, the National Liberation War Veterans' Association and now the military, have vowed to quell the protests, with force if necessary.

The Herald reported on Thursday that the ZDF said it took "serious exception" to MDC advertisements urging them to join the opposition's side and claimed previous stayaways had turned violent.

"In the light of this, the ZDF will not be an idle observer. Instead, it will bring to bear its full force upon those perpetrators of uncalled-for violence," the Herald quoted a ZDF statement as saying.

In calling for the stayaway, MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai warned participants of the potential for violence, urged them not to be provoked, and to "exercise maximum restraint".

The planned protests and stay-aways are considered illegal under the controversial Public Order and Security Act because the MDC did not apply for permission.

However, party spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi told IRIN: "We didn't bother to apply because we know it will be futile. And it is our democratic and constitutional right to protest - and it is not just for the party, but for the citizens of Zimbabwe."