Harare police disperse fuel queues

Baton-wielding riot police have been dispersing people queuing for basic commodities and fuel around Harare as the Zimbabwean government struggles to paint a picture of tranquillity to visiting Cricket World Cup teams and journalists covering the tournament.

The privately owned Daily News said police had closed all fuel stations along Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Road, linking Harare airport with the city centre, apparently to deceive arriving journalists and cricketers about the fuel crisis in the country by eliminating fuel queues. Wellington Chibhebhe, the secretary general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, said that in the period leading up to the World Cup the police had been "chasing away people from fuel, bread and mealie meal queues, which are the order of the day all over the country".

The Daily News said reporters had toured overcrowded shopping centres in highly populated suburbs and seen police harassing groups of people and dispersing them.

Tinarwo Musosa, who was at one shopping centre, told the newspaper: "We cannot buy bread here because the police said queues are causing disorder at the shopping centre."

Mildred Zimuko said the police, with the help of youths supporting the ruling Zanu-PF party, had beaten people queuing for maize-meal. An employee at one supermarket confirmed that police had been violent with customers in Highfield on Friday last week.

Meanwhile, in the treason trial of the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, the country's star witness, Ari Ben- Menashe, admitted that he was paid US$200,000 (£120,000) by the Zimbabwe government after he recorded a grainy video in which Mr Tsvangirai is said to have discussed a plot to kill the President, Robert Mugabe. Mr Tsvangirai denies the charges and says he was framed by Mr Ben-Menashe.