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Another political killing

    JOHANNESBURG

    As violence and intimidation continued in Zimbabwe through the weekend, a white farmer died on Monday after being beaten up by suspected liberation war veterans leading the seizure of white-owned farms and attacks against the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

    Police said the farmer, Alan Dunn, a regional organiser for the MDC, had been beaten unconscious on Sunday when suspected war veterans called at his farm some 60 km southwest of the capital, Harare. The third farmer killed in the past three weeks, his death brings to 18 the number of opposition supporters who have lost their lives in what MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Monday called a “terror campaign” in the run-up to parliamentary elections for which a date is still to be set.

    The killings have accompanied the invasion of about 700 white-owned farms by members of the Zimbabwe National War Veteran’s Association and supporters of President Robert Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF party. An MDC spokesman said a dozen other serious assaults had been reported to party headquarters on Sunday. He also said MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai was detained for nearly six hours on Friday night at a police station in Masvingo, some 300 km south of the capital, Harare. No reasons for the action were given.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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