Zimbabwe's opposition fears a new crackdown as authorities have vowed to ‘get tough’ on perpetrators of political violence in the approach to this month's run-off election.
As a leading rights group warned mounting violence had extinguished chances of a free and fair ballot, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change said an announcement by authorities to deny bail to anyone suspected of committing or inciting unrest would be used to further hamper its election campaign.
‘It does not matter who commits the offence,’ Zimbabwe’s deputy attorney general Johannes Tomana said. ‘We are doing this without fear or favour. We will be tough with them now.’
But the MDC chief spokesman Nelson Chamisa ridiculed the idea that the new directive would be applied even-handedly.
While President Robert Mugabe blames the opposition for an increase in violence ahead of the 27 June poll, the UN's chief representative in Zimbabwe has said the president's supporters are to blame for the bulk of it and the only people known to have been arrested on violence charges are MDC followers.
A new report by Human Rights Watch documents instances of Mugabe supporters - including the army and police force - killing, abducting and torturing opposition members.
‘Since the run-off was announced the violence in Zimbabwe has gotten even worse,’ said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
‘Zimbabweans can't vote freely if they fear their vote may get them killed.’
The report comes a day after an association of Zimbabwean doctors said they had treated nearly 3,000 victims of political violence since the first round of voting on 29 March.
