Messages From Zimbabwe

Robert Mugabe’s regime of thugs and militia has intensified its reign of terror as reports of political violence and torture of MDC supporters across Zimbabwe continue to emerge. Reliable sources on the ground told Newsreel on Tuesday that Gokwe has been completely shut down by armed groups and youth militia, with extensive road blocks preventing aid agencies from reaching victims of torture in the area. We have been unable to clarify Monday’s initial reports that a refugee centre in Gokwe was attacked over the weekend, but information received indicates that there has been widespread violence in the area over the past few days. Our sources have said that at least 32 civilian victims are being detained at the Gokwe hospital with serious burns and axe wounds as a result of torture and that there are three confirmed deaths.

Newsreel has also learnt that ambulances have been refused access to the hospital to remove the victims for treatment and that medical emergency crews have been held up at roadblocks surrounding the Gokwe area. Sources said a Red Cross crew was stopped by youth militia while trying to gain access to the Gokwe hospital. The crew was then detained and questioned for eighteen hours before being turned away. The information from the ground coincides with a report from the MDC that ten party supporters who were attacked by ZANU PF thugs in Gokwe over the weekend were being detained at the Gokwe Hospital. The MDC said two soldiers hijacked ambulances transporting the injured on Sunday. They are now at the Gokwe hospital where they have not received any medical attention due to a lack of medicine. Among those in need of urgent treatment is the Gokwe MP Costin Muguti, who was abducted from his home by men in army uniforms and severely beaten. He was handed over to the police at the Gokwe Centre where he is reportedly still in custody.

At the same time, 14 people who were abducted during a militia raid on a refugee centre in Ruwa on Sunday night are still missing. The attack came as the group of more than 300 men, women and children were sleeping at the Ruwa local squash courts, where they have been sheltering since last month. The group were removed to the so called “place of safety” after fleeing to the South African Embassy in Harare in the week leading up to the election run off. The refugees fled their Epworth homes after an upsurge of violence there, and turned to the embassy for refuge. They were removed to Ruwa after an agreement facilitated by the South African ambassador and approved by the International and Zimbabwean Red Cross.

The group had been promised twenty four hour protection, but were forced to form their own security patrols. On Sunday night a group of masked men with shotguns burst into the squash courts and started beating up the refugees, including pregnant women and children. Eight people were hospitalised. The fourteen people who are missing were mainly young men who were part of the camp’s security patrol. An official from The Federation for Red Cross and Crescent Societies in Johannesburg told Newsreel on Tuesday that it was still providing basic humanitarian care at the Ruwa refugee site, but that it was not responsible for providing security. The official said the group would not be commenting further of the issue.

(Source)