Opposition supporters arrested in Zimbabwe crackdown
HARARE (AFP) — Police in Zimbabwe cracked down on opposition supporters as a general strike fizzled out on Wednesday, while doctors said they had treated more than 150 victims of post-election political beatings.
In New York meanwhile, UN Secretary General Ban ki-moon warned that the crisis could have repercussions for democracy across Africa.
President Robert Mugabe's security forces scaled back their presence in the capital Harare as it became clear the strike had failed, but not before they had arrested 56 people for what they said were public order offences.
"They have arrested a lot of people, more than 50, mostly MDC staff members, including a member of parliament," Nelson Chamisa, a spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), told AFP.
"We don't know for what reason they have been arrested. There is no crime in staying away (from work). The crime is the one being committed by ZEC (the electoral commission) which is withholding the results," Chamisa said.
The MDC had called on its supporters to stay away from work from Tuesday until the outcome of the March 29 presidential election was announced, after its legal bid to flush out the results was rejected by the courts.
With the result of the presidential contest still undeclared more than two weeks after the vote, the crisis was getting increasing attention further afield.
The crisis overshadowed United Nations Security Council talks on closer cooperation with the African Union.
Ban told its members: "The credibility of the democratic process in Africa could be at stake here."
"If there is a second round of elections, they must be conducted in a fair and transparent manner, with international observers," he added.
With an unemployment rate of over 80 percent and even the most basic foodstuffs only available on the black market, few workers could afford to heed the opposition's general strike call.
Anti-riot police were conspicuously absent from the streets on Wednesday, while traffic flowed unhindered by the roadblocks that had dotted the capital on the opening day of the strike.
The scale of the problems facing the country was highlighted by new official inflation figures for February which put the annual rate at almost 165,000 percent, up from 100,000 percent the month before.
Tensions have been steadily mounting in the southern African nation over the delayed result of last month's presidential election.
The opposition said two of its members were killed by Mugabe supporters over the weekend in politically motivated murders, while doctors said they had treated 157 patients who had been beaten and tortured since the poll.
"One third of the patients are women, including a 15-year-old girl who was abducted with her mother from her home, made to lie on her front and beaten on her buttocks," a statement said.
"Her mother, who is pregnant, was similarly beaten. Both mother and daughter required hospital admission."
The group said half of 30 patients still in hospital were from the opposition stronghold of Mudzi, northeast of the capital.
Diplomatic sources told AFP that Mugabe's so-called war veterans and other loyal supporters of his ruling ZANU-PF party had been on the march, targeting certain opposition areas with intimidation and beatings.
In further unrest, a farmers union said more than 130 white farmers had been driven off their land by Mugabe supporters, and around 30 had not been able to return to their farms.
At the UN, Ban -- backed by some Western countries -- urged southern African leaders to take "decisive action" to end the Zimbabwe crisis, saying the world body stood ready to help.
"We are gravely concerned about the escalating politically motivated violence perpetrated by (Zimbabwean) security forces and ruling party militias," US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told the gathering.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai claims he beat 84-year-old Mugabe outright in the presidential battle, but the ruling party says neither man won a clear victory and insists a run-off will be needed.
"No-one thinks, having seen the results of polling stations, that President Mugabe has won this election," Prime Minister Gordon Brown of former colonial power Britain told the UN Security Council meeting.
Tsvangirai had previously ruled out his participation in a second ballot, but back-pedalled from that position on Tuesday, indicating he would compete if international observers were allowed to monitor it.
