ZIMBABWE: Zimbabwe's embattled opposition was dealt a double blow last night as the government tried to rush through a raft of draconian measures and the army said it would not respect an opposition win in elections this March.
Parliament was still sitting late yesterday evening as the government attempted to introduce three bills that would severely curtail the opposition Movement for Democratic Change in advance of polls announced for March 9th and 10th.
The legislation would effectively silence the independent press, ban strikes not approved by the government, and give President Robert Mugabe sweeping powers over political opponents.
The Justice Minister, Mr Patrick Chinamasa, promised that the measures will pass into law by the end of this week. He wants to avoid a repetition of Tuesday's embarrassing defeat, when a bill banning independent election monitors and outlawing voter education was defeated when the ruling Zanu-PF party failed to muster enough MPs for the vote.
He said the bill would receive a second hearing, possibly today, apparently in contravention of parliamentary rules.
The line between the state and the ruling party was further blurred when the army commander Gen Vitalis Zvinavashe issued a statement saying his forces would not support any leader who had not fought for liberation against white rule.
The security organisations would only support leaders who would "pursue Zimbabwean values, traditions and beliefs for thousands of lives lost in pursuit of Zimbabwe's hard-won independence," he said.
The statement was a clear snub against the MDC leader, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, whom the government has repeatedly accused of being a pawn of foreign, white powers.
The March election will be Mr Mugabe's greatest challenge since coming to power in 1980.
Last weekend gangs of Zanu-PF supporters laid siege to three towns in the northern tobacco-farming area of Mashonaland. Hundred of people, black and white, were forced to flee their homes after Zanu-PF gang descended on the towns.
Accord to the Daily News, one group set up illegal roadblocks in Bindura, 50 miles north of Harare, and attacked residents who failed to produce Zanu-PF membership cards.
A farmer living in the same area told AFP news agency that armed mobs had forced 26 white farmers off their land since last weekend. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said that "some were told to leave immediately, some were given 24 hours." Police spokesman Tarwireyi Tirivavi denied both reports outright. "The farmers don't want to accept readily the farm settlement exercise. As a result, conflict is inevitable," he said.
A Commonwealth-brokered agreement, signed in Nigeria last September and providing for a peaceful resolution of the land question, is now in tatters.Mounting evidence of state-sponsored human rights abuses including torture, abduction and murder has spurred the international community into action.
The US, Britain and the Commonwealth are preparing measures to isolate Mr Mugabe. EU officials are meeting the Zimbabwean government tomorrow to discuss the deteriorating situation.