[DEBATE] : (Fwd) "Mediation", says Zuma to rapidly scattering MDC

[Patrick Bond]

(Many of us who assumed that like AIDSdenialism, Mugabedenialism was a 
quirky albeit deadly personal trait of one Thabo Mbeki, have to reassess 
matters now that Zuma has endorsed Mbeki. It must be a structural, not 
personal problem we're dealing with. It must be subimperialism.)

The Times (UK), 9 December
 
Jacob Zuma thwarts efforts to force Robert Mugabe out
 
David Charter
 
Brussels - International efforts to end Zimbabwe's misery by forcing 
President Mugabe out of office were blunted yesterday when a key African 
leader urged further mediation despite the power-sharing impasse in 
Harare... Mr Zuma, who is expected to be elected as South African 
president next year, recognised the urgency of the Zimbabwean crisis, 
but offered a radically different solution. "We need some swift action 
to deal with the situation." he said at the opening of talks in Windhoek 
with President Pohamba of Namibia. "We fully support Thabo Mbeki's 
mediation efforts and we urge the Zimbabwe leadership to act and ... 
pave the way for a unity government."

***

Zimbabwe Mail

Entire MDC leadership goes into hiding
10 December, 2008 04:38:00 Staff Reporter

HARARE - The entire leadership of the Movement for Democratic Change 
(MDC) has gone into hiding following well coordinated abductions and 
disappearances of its supporters and human rights activists by hired 
foreign mercenaries from as far as Angola and the Great Lakes region, 
The Zimbabwe Mail can reveal.

An operation code named "operation ngatipedzenavo" (Operation lets 
finish them up), was recently launched by Robert Mugabe's hardline party 
functionaries to destroy the leadership structures of the opposition.

This latest move now threatens the peace deal signed by Robert Mugabe 
and opposition leaders on 15 September this year and it is now feared 
that most elected opposition Members of Parliament might fled the 
country into exile, leaving the much awaited constitutional amendment in 
jeopardy.

The MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai has decided to stay abroad for fear 
of his life.

The Zimbabwe Mail can reveal that Zanu PF is now running a secret hit 
squad with recruits from Angola and battle hardened war criminals from 
the Great lakes region.

"These Mercenaries have been recruited from a number of countries in the 
region and they're doing the dirty work for CIO," our intelligence 
source revealed.

It is believed that the mercenaries are reporting directly to Emmerson 
Munangagwa throught former Rwandan Presidential Guard commander Protais 
Mpiranya and Mnangagwa is the Chairman of JOC (Joint Operation Command).

The operation is also receiving direct funding from the Reserve Bank.

Protais Mpiranya, the former head of the presidential guard during the 
1994 genocide is on the wanted list of the International Criminal 
Tribunal for Rwanda, but he has since settled in Zimbabwe for close to 
10 years and he is running Robert Mugabe's close protection unit in the 
Presidential Guard together with the Libyan and Pakistan nationals.

Mapiranya is also suspected to have strong business links with 
Zimbabwe's second most powerful politician Emmerson Mnangagwa and senior 
Zimbabwe army officers.

He used to operate Ze'ntemba rumba Night Club at the Kopje Plaza in 
Harare a few years ago.

An MDC official in hiding said, "the foreigners have been identified by 
our intelligence unit on many occasions supporting government-backed men".

"We have observed that some of the people leading the abductions are 
foreigners because they speak a different language and they do not 
understand our local languages", he said.

"Also the tactics they are using are not peculiar with Zimbabweans 
because they are cutting out the tongue, removing eyes and genital 
parts. We are not sure where they come from, but we know some them speak 
in Portuguese, according to our intelligence information. Robert 
Mugabe's CIO are brutal, but this new trend is very much worrying, said 
the MDC official.

"They are cruel and brutal. Each unit has an interpreter who tells them 
what to do and we fear for those who have been abducted so far.

"The mercenaries are operating from CIO offices in Highlands, along 
Enterprises road and they have bases in and around Harare and some have 
been deployed across the country, but they are mainly concentrated in 
Harare.

A Central Intelligence Oroganisation (CIO) mole took us in a drive-by, 
and showed our reporter houses in Belvedere and in Malbereighn which are 
housing these murderous criminals.

They have also been deployed to Chiyadzwa diamond area in Manicaland 
where they have killed so many people in a callous bloody operation.

Suspected state agents have abducted an official from the opposition 
Movement for Democratic Change, bringing to at least 19 the number of 
MDC supporters and civil society activists to have been whisked away 
without trace in recent weeks, according to an MDC official.

Gandhi Mudzingwa, a former personal assistant to MDC leader Morgan 
Tsvangirai, who was working on the party's transition policy, was seized 
by a group of armed men while driving in Harare on Monday, George 
Sibotshiwe, a spokesperson for Tsvangirai, said on Tuesday.

The MDC suspects his abductors were members of the feared Central 
Intelligence Organisation, which is also suspected of the abduction last 
week of prominent activist Jestina Mukoko.

Mukoko, director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP), was taken from her 
home by a dozen armed men. Her whereabouts are unknown. Two other 
members of the ZPP have since also been abducted.

Meanwhile, a group of 15 MDC members who were detained by police a month 
ago in Mashonaland West province are also still missing, despite a court 
order that they be brought to court or released.

The disappearances are part of a new crackdown by President Robert 
Mugabe's regime against the opposition that began after talks between 
his Zanu-PF party and the MDC on the formation of a unity government.

Some analysts believe Mugabe may again be trying to "soften up" the 
opposition in advance of possible fresh elections. "That's a definite 
possibility," said Brian Raftopoulos, director of research and advocacy 
for the Solidarity Peace Trust, a South Africa-based NGO that campaigns 
for freedom and democracy in Zimbabwe.

"There was always speculation that if the mediation stalled, Mugabe 
would hammer structures in the country and call new elections," 
Raftopoulos said.

Mugabe himself last week told a group of supporters to be ready for new 
elections.

It is unclear how such a move, which the MDC would likely oppose, would 
resolve Mugabe's legitimacy issues. His re-election as president in an 
unopposed, violent vote in June was dismissed by the international 
community as a sham