Under cover of war, Mugabe unleashes a new reign of terror

Hidden from a world whose gaze has been fixed on Iraq, a full-scale reign of terror has been unleashed on opponents of the Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of Zimbabweans were arrested and tortured as Mr Mugabe, apparently taking advantage of the lull in international scrutiny, stepped up his campaign of repression during the three weeks of the United States' war on Saddam Hussein.

The 79-year-old President marked the 23rd anniversary of independence yesterday with a speech in which he warned that he would tolerate no challenge to his rule. He accused Britain and the US of attempting to "recolonise" Zimbabwe because they opposed his seizures of white-owned land.

State newspapers carried full-page advertisements calling on Zimbabweans to shun "mass violence" by "terrorists and thugs". But during the period leading to the fall of Baghdad, more than 1,000 opposition supporters were arrested, detained in prison and tortured, claims the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

The numbers arrested in the past month are unprecedented, and for the first time the focus of intimidation has shifted from the rural areas to opposition supporters in towns. Many victims have been forced to sit on hot electric stoves and fires, says the MDC, which is publishing newspaper advertisements showing pictures of the tortured and injured.

The notorious "Green Bombers", Mr Mugabe's youth militias, have also intensified their intimidation campaign in the countryside, seeking out MDC sympathisers, burning homes, raping and beating. Many victims are thought to have been beaten to death.

But the latest massive government clampdown is aimed at the middle and higher levels of the MDC and, unusually, is being conducted in Harare and the other cities. Some of Mr Mugabe's opponents say they have been forced to have sex with their children.

The crackdown came after one of the biggest protests against Mr Mugabe's rule, organised last month by the MDC. Its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, vowed yesterday to continue calling strikes, protests and what the party calls "mass action".

Public anger at food and fuel shortages has become more voluble. In response, Mr Mugabe's soldiers and militiamen have started randomly attacking and beating up people gathered in public.

Gibson Sibanda, deputy president of the MDC, was arrested and jailed for eight days in what he described as "inhuman conditions". Paul Themba Nyathi, another opposition party spokesman, was also illegally detained for five days over his alleged "role" in the strike.

But it is not just party activists who are being intimidated. Robert Muchago, a water engineer who is now in South Africa, has first-hand experience of brutality. Mr Muchago, 32, was in a nightclub in Chitungwiza, a dormitory town near Harare, 10 days ago when army soldiers stormed the club. The soldiers randomly paired every man with a woman. Mr Muchago said many of the women were prostitutes. They forced them to undress and engage in unprotected public sex.

"With the high prevalence of HIV-Aids, it was like being asked to sign your death warrant," Mr Muchago said. Two men who tried to plead were savagely beaten and left for dead. Fearing for their lives, the rest of the "couples" complied.

Scores of young women have been rounded up and raped by the Green Bombers. "Jane", 16, said she was beaten and raped by eight different militia commanders in a 12-hour ordeal. Her crime, she was told, was her father's suspected support for the MDC.

The MDC says all of its MPs and national executive committee members have at some time been arrested and jailed. In most cases charges were not sustained in court. Tendai Biti, the shadow Economic Affairs Minister, told The Independent: "Mugabe should give us the title deeds to his prisons because these are our new homes. We now live in his jails."

As the repression has worsened, so too has the economy, with inflation reaching a record 228 per cent and the United Nations investigating how to help even the urban working population with food aid.

The South African government mustered support among African nations within the UN Human Rights Commission to prevent a vote condemning Zimbabwe in Geneva this week.

In response Michael Ancram, Britain's shadow foreign secretary, called on Tony Blair and Jack Straw to bring a new UN resolution. "The UN cannot turn a blind eye to the abuses of Robert Mugabe," he said, "and nor can South Africa which is beginning to be affected financially and politically by what is happening."

He Job Sikhala, an opposition official, has just been treated in South Africa after he was arrested for the 17th time, then beaten, tortured and forced to drink urine in a Zimbabwean prison. After his last release, he described his treatment. "I screamed for help, and no help came, and I was told to shut up. At the third stage of torture, when they applied electric shocks to my mouth, and in my left ear, I lost consciousness," he said.

Many Zimbabweans who would not have supported the Iraqi war are talking of a "Bush solution". "Mr Bush, when are you coming to liberate us?" has become a catchphrase among unemployed youths.

Leading article, page 20