Raath reports:
"Up to 20 masked men, armed with shotguns and knives, burst into the Ruwa rehabilitation centre east of Harare, clubbing men, women and children with gun butts as they slept in the squash courts of the old military base.
At the same time, another armed gang invaded a camp at Gokwe, north of Harare, where other families targeted in the state-sponsored violence had been sheltering."
..."The opposition Movement for Democratic Change, the key targets of the state-sponsored campaign, reported yesterday that the violence was far from over, with at least 20 killings since the election, bringing the death toll to 109 since March."
All of this while world leaders explore diplomatic pressures and while Thabo Mbeki and the South African government continue to run interference against any concerted attempts at stronger sanctions against Mugabe and his inner circle. Botswana has been outspoken in its criticism of Mugabe, and now there are reports of military exercises along the Zimbabwean border by Botswana's forces. The alignment of SADC countries for and against Mugabe has more potential for future conflict than one might at first assume. The strong ties between Mugabe and the Namibian military, as well as the Angolan military--as all three profited from their ventures defending Kabila in the DRC--stands in contrast to the current opposition to Mugabe from Botswana and Zambia. The big power in the region, South Africa, still seems firmly in support of Mugabe, but as events at the G8 summit in Japan have shown, the ability of South Africa to speak for all of Sub-Saharan Africa in regards to debt relief and increased investment and aid from the G8 is hampered by Mbeki's support of Mugabe. The next South African president may not continue down this path.
Peta Thornycroft, reporting about the attacks on Monday for the Telegraph, quotes one of the refugees at the camp after the attack:
""The screaming and the noise of what they were doing was terrible, I don't even know how many were hurt, I couldn't see," said a 45-year-old man who escaped from the camp.
He believes scores of people were injured and many, including women and their infants, were kidnapped or fled into the bush to escape.
Most of the group are from rural areas who first sought protection at the MDC's Harvest House headquarters in Harare, but after it was raided by police several times moved to the position outside the embassy.
"We knew President (Thabo) Mbeki was mediating the situation and we thought they would help us," said the man.
"We moved to Ruwa because the South Africans told us we would be safe, but we are not safe.""
At what point does the "responsibility to protect" fall on the shoulders of the South African government. Are they not the ones most adamant that this must be solved locally? To what extent is the political violence in Zimbabwe beginning to parallel that of the Sudanese government both in the Southern Sudan and more recently in Darfur? South Africa needs to take a more active role in protecting Zimbabweans from ZANU-PF violence, and if they are not capable of doing so, they should be active in calling on an international peacekeeping force to provide some sort of buffer between those already identified as MDC or alleged MDC who are on the receiving end of the violence. How can the MDC negotiate with Mugabe, as the South Africans wish, while their supporters are murdered and beaten with impunity? This does not seem to be anywhere near the situation in Kenya when Odinga's supporters were quite capable of inflicting a great deal of violence and it became mixed with ethnic political violence in places like Nyakuru. Zimbabwe cannot be viewed as a similar situation where a government of national unity can suddenly appear. What leverage does the MDC have in such a negotiation? It is only the nations in the region and the AU who can provide the MDC legitimacy. Some have spoken out bravely, but the majority are willing to accept Mugabe's political violence and sham election as business as usual.
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