State, Opposition Accuse Each Other Of Fomenting Violence

State, Opposition Accuse Each Other Of Fomenting Violence
April 5, 2000 


HARARE, Zimbabwe (PANA) - The government and the opposition in Zimbabwe accused each other Wednesday of fomenting violence to force a cancellation of the May parliamentary elections.

Home Affairs minister, Dumiso Dabengwa, the home affairs minister, said the authorities had uncovered a plot by the Movement for Democratic Change party to make the country ungovernable to foil the elections.

"The police are, therefore, under instruction to deal with violent elements impartially and decisively without fear or favour of any political party," he warned.

But the leader of the movement, Morgan Tsvangirai, said it was President Robert Mugabe's government which had hatched plans to foment violence as an excuse to cancel the polls.

He told a press conference that clashes throughout the country between the movement and government supporters in the last two weeks, which has left three people dead, were deliberately provoked by the government.

The elections are the first fiercely contested polls between the government and the opposition since Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain in 1980, and political analysts predict a possible setback for Mugabe.

The opposition, which the government accuse Britain and other big powers of sponsoring, have capitalised on Zimbabwe's worst economic downturn and widespread corruption in the public sector.

A cabinet minister and several senior government officials were arrested two weeks ago on allegations of siphoning billions of US dollars from state-owned companies.

The opposition called the arrests "cosmetic and too late too little and only intended to spruce up" the government's image ahead of the elections. 





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