Who is responsible? - An assessment of reports of violence by the opposition

Who is responsible?
A preliminary analysis of pre-election violence
in Zimbabwe
June 20, 2000

Contents Ť ť

An Assessment of Reports of Violence by the Opposition
There have been no reported cases of violence by members of the main opposition parties other than MDC. There have been several reports of MDC violence, reported mostly in the state media. MDC youths are accused of attacking Zanu (PF) youths and war veterans in at least 19 separate incidents in different parts of the country since mid-March. There is evidence that MDC members have been responsible for assaults, property damage and intimidation. In some of these cases, Zanu (PF) members are known to have been injured.

While the Forum has not received testimony in any of these cases, it has received information regarding incidents in Mukumbura and Mberengwa which is relevant to the context in which some of the violence has taken place, suggesting that MDC members may have been acting in retaliation or self-defence.

The Forum strongly condemns all perpetrators of political violence and hopes that thorough investigations into each of the reported cases will identify those responsible and clarify the circumstances in which the violence occurred. However, it can find no grounds whatsoever for equating the widespread terror campaign initiated by Zanu (PF) supporters to the isolated examples of violence of which opposition members have been accused. It dismisses the claim that the opposition have been responsible for most of the violence as baseless and can find little to support the theory that the opposition "started the violence". TOP