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Zimbabwe Opposition Members Forced To Recant For Television Cameras


Political violence in Zimbabwe continued Tuesday in Harare's Mbare district where members of the ruling ZANU-PF party's militia forced opposition members to declare their allegiance to the ruling party in front of state television cameras, sources said.

Evictions of Mbare families continued as suspected opposition supporters in Matapi, Nenyeri and Mbare apartment flats and the Siyaso market stalls were forced to vacate.

Sources said election observers of the Southern African Development Community tried to visit the areas hit by such violence but were chased away by ZANU-PF militia members. The sources said observers were also attacked in Epworth, a suburb east of Harare.

The director of SADC’s organ on politics, defense and security, Tanki Mothae, said he had not yet received a report on attacks against observers chased from Mbare and Epworth.

Parliamentarian-elect Piniel Denga of Mbare told reporter Jonga Kandemiiri of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that local officials trying to accommodate those forced from their homes.

The Combined Harare Residents Association condemned the forced evictions by ZANU-PF's Chipangano youth wing. Association Chairman Mike Davies said his group is appealing to the international community to take action before things get out of hand.

Meanwhile, the wife of the newly elected mayor of the MDC-led Harare council, Emmanuel Chiroto, and their four year old son, were said to have been abducted from their Hatcliffe home by ZANU-PF militia Monday night. Sources said the son was left at the Borrowdale police station Tuesday morning, but that the mother remained missing.

Chiroto, elected mayor on Sunday by other Harare councilors, said his house was burned to the ground. He said the burning of the house was witnessed by SADC election observers, and a source in the SADC delegation later confirmed this to VOA.

More reports from VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe...


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