Zimbabwe opposition: Mayor’s wife killed

HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) — Zimbabwe’s opposition party said four of its activists and the wife of Harare’s mayor — an opposition member — were found dead Thursday, just days ahead of next week’s presidential runoff election.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been detained four times while campaigning. Tendai Biti, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change’s (MDC) secretary-general, was also formally charged with treason Thursday after being arrested last week.

A spokesman for the MDC blamed President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party for the deaths, saying they brought to 70 the number of MDC party members killed since a bitterly contested election three months ago.

The body of the mayor’s wife, 27-year-old Abigail Chiroto, was found in a mortuary close to the couple’s house north of Harare. She had been beaten so severely with rocks and iron bars that her face was almost unrecognizable, said MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa.

“It’s way out of the ordinary. It’s callous,” he said.

Chiroto was kidnapped, along with her four-year-old son, on Tuesday. Some of her kidnappers wore military uniforms, Chamisa said. Chiroto’s son was released unharmed.

Her husband, Emmanuel Chiroto, is an MDC member who was recently elected mayor of Harare. He was not home at the time of the kidnapping.

The other activists were also abducted Tuesday. They were were found in a township, about 30 km (18 miles) south of Harare. They had been stabbed with spears and shot, Chamisa said.

“It’s unbelievable the way people are being killed or murdered,” he said. “It’s almost mass butchering.”

Police confirmed the deaths of the activists but did not link the victims to any political party.

Mugabe’s party denied any part in the deaths, saying MDC officials made such accusations frequently.

“They are claiming anyone who dies. They phone CNN,” Bright Matonga, a ZANU-PF spokesman, said. “Whenever someone dies in the hospital, they rush to claim them.”

Matonga said Harare was run by a commission. “There is no MDC mayor in Zimbabwe,” he said. “There is no newly elected mayor in Harare.”

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking at the United Nations on Thursday, accused Mugabe of sponsoring efforts to starve, beat and kill supporters of his opponent so he can win the upcoming election.

“Mugabe is increasing violence against (the) opposition. … President Mugabe has squandered the promise of the very nation that was hailed as the jewel of Africa,” Rice said at a roundtable discussion attended by representatives from many international governments.

“Clearly we have reached a point where broader, stronger, international effort is needed,” she added.

Meanwhile, Biti was also charged with communicating false information prejudicial to the state, bringing the office of the president into disrepute and causing disaffection among armed forces, according to a journalist who was in the Harare courtroom.

He had originally been scheduled to be formally charged Monday.

Biti’s arrest and treason charges have been criticized by African and international leaders who characterize it as a ploy by Mugabe supporters to intimidate the opposition party before his June 27 runoff election against MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

In recent weeks, opposition groups and churches have reported numerous cases of kidnappings, torture and other violence in the country targeting opponents of Mugabe. ZANU-PF members have been suspected of being behind the acts.

ZANU-PF claims that the MDC is behind the violence. It said MDC members attacked the mayor of Kadoma, a city 140 km (87 miles) southwest of Harare. It also accused MDC activists of causing millions of dollars damage to private business.

Last week, Mugabe warned that veterans he commanded in his country’s liberation war nearly three decades ago would take up arms again if Tsvangirai won.

Mugabe has been Zimbabwe’s only leader since the war ended in 1980, but is blamed for the economic collapse of a country once considered a regional breadbasket.

Zimbabweans increasingly are unable to afford food and other essentials with agriculture paralyzed by land reform and the world’s highest rate of inflation.

Police have arrested Tsvangirai several times in the weeks leading up to the runoff, most recently on Saturday with 11 other officials and supporters from his party. Mugabe has threatened to arrest more MDC officials, blaming the party for pre-election violence.

Mbeki to meet Mugabe in Zimbabwe

HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) — South African President Thabo Mbeki is visiting Zimbabwe to meet with its embattled leader ahead of next week’s runoff election, the South African government said Wednesday.

Thabo Mbeki is under domestic and international pressure for his perceived conciliatory stance toward Mugabe.

Mbeki is visiting in his capacity as mediator with the 14-nation Southern African Development Community. The scheduled meeting with President Mugabe will take place in the southwestern city of Bulawayo, Mbeki’s government said.

Mbeki’s trip comes at an especially critical time in Zimbabwe. Mugabe faces a runoff June 27 with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, and Mugabe’s supporters have been accused of kidnappings, beatings and murders in an effort to influence the outcome.

Mugabe met Tuesday with top United Nations envoy Haile Menkerios, who is in Zimbabwe this week to try to resolve pre-election tensions.

Last week, Mugabe warned that veterans he commanded in his country’s liberation war nearly three decades ago would take up arms again if Tsvangirai were to win. Mugabe has been Zimbabwe’s only leader since the war ended in 1980.

Police have arrested Tsvangirai several times in the weeks leading up to the runoff, most recently on Saturday with 11 other officials and supporters from his party, the Movement for Democratic Change.

MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti remains behind bars after his arrest last week, and officials have said he will be charged with treason, although he has yet to have a hearing. The treason charge could carry the death penalty.

Mugabe has threatened to arrest more MDC officials, blaming the party for pre-election violence.

Nqobizitha Mlilo, an MDC spokesman, said the party expected little from Mbeki’s trip and that none of its officials planned to meet with the South African.

Tsvangirai has called on Mbeki to step down as mediator, accusing him of bias toward Mugabe. “We don’t even know what his (Mbeki) agenda is,” Mlilo told The Associated Press. “We can’t attach expectations to an agenda we don’t know anything about.”

Mbeki is under domestic and international pressure for his perceived conciliatory stance toward Mugabe, but the South African leader recently said he will continue his quiet diplomacy despite recent events.

The SADC appointed Mbeki in March 2007 to be the mediator in Zimbabwe, with a brief to ensure that the next elections in the country would not be contested. The two parties held talks for eight months, agreeing on various amendments to the country’s draconian electoral and security laws, and even drafting a constitution.

One of the most significant agreements was to post election results outside polling stations. The MDC later used those results to declare victory after the recent election and to contest the electoral commission’s results.

The Mbeki-mediated talks collapsed, however, after Mugabe announced the March 29 date for the runoff election before an agreement had been reached between the parties.

Human Rights Watch issued a report last week declaring the runoff to be dead on arrival because of violence and intimidation by Mugabe’s followers — including the war veterans — against opposition supporters.

There have been numerous reports from the opposition and church groups about kidnappings, torture and other violence, including the deaths of opposition party members. They say the violence targets opponents of Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday that 53 people have been killed, 2,000 wounded, and 30,000 displaced during the election campaign.

Brown said his government had asked Zimbabwe to allow observers in for next week’s vote. Hundreds have already been allowed in, he said, and more are expected.

“We demand that these observers come from the different parts of the world and not just from Africa,” Brown said in the House of Commons. “We demand that the proper monitoring of these elections take place. If that is not to happen, it will be difficult to justify elections as free and fair.”

Zimbabwe’s neighbors have acknowledged the problems that exist in the country and the need for proper elections, Brown said.

About Mugabe’s government he said, “It is a criminal regime run by a criminal cabal, and we must make that clear to the rest of the world.”

The MDC has called for Mbeki to step down as mediator, accusing him of not being an honest broker and of siding with Mugabe. While Mbeki continues to perform his mediating role with the SADC, his efforts do appear one-sided. Although his team of mediators recently met with the two parties to discuss resolutions to ending the violence in Zimbabwe, the last time Mbeki met with Tsvangiria was in April.

The MDC says that at that meeting it handed Mbeki documented proof that Mugabe was planning a military campaign of violence against the opposition. Mbeki promised to talk to Mugabe, the MDC says, but the violence has continued.

The South African government said Mbeki has no plans to meet Tsvangirai on Wednesday, and the MDC confirmed there has been no request for a meeting from the South African president since they last met in April.