Zimbabwe Opposition Says Four Activists Murdered in Harare

Zimbabwe’s main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party said four of its supporters were found murdered on Thursday near the capital Harare, just over a week before the country votes in a high-stakes second round presidential election.

The MDC announced the death of four of its activists allegedly abducted on Tuesday by suspected ruling ZANU PF party militias in the ongoing political skirmishes ahead of the June 27 poll pitting President Robert Mugabe and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

“The four were members of the MDC youth assembly and were found dead at various locations near Harare,” MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.

The deaths bring to 70 the number of opposition activists killed ahead of the violence-marred run-off, he added.

They also come a day after South African President Thabo Mbeki, who is mediating between the ruling ZANU PF and the MDC, left Harare after separately meeting Mugabe and Tsvangirai on Wednesday over the deteriorating political crisis in Zimbabwe.

Details of both meetings have been kept a closely guarded secret although a report in South Africa’s Business Day newspaper quoted sources Thursday as saying that Mbeki had pressed Mugabe to cancel the election and negotiate with the MDC to end the crisis.

Political tension, which has been high since Mugabe lost to Tsvangirai in the first round poll in March, has worsened in the past three weeks as both parties embarked on campaigns.

ZANU PF has set up bases in rural and urban areas from where youths and war veterans harass residents perceived to be opposition supporters.

At least 10 MDC leaders, including Tsvangirai and his secretary general Tendai Biti, have been arrested in the past fortnight in a move the opposition says is meant to disrupt its campaign strategy.

Biti is currently languishing in remand prison where he faces treason charges for allegedly authoring a document that outlined the MDC’s strategy to topple Mugabe.

Biti denies the charges and could be sentenced to death if found guilty of treason.

Source African Press Agency

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