Renewed Violence Ahead of Zimbabwe Elections Leaves 1 Dead, 18 Hurt

A man believed to be an opposition activist died Wednesday of injuries suffered in a clash a day earlier with supporters of President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, or ZANU-PF, police said.

The killing was reported as the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, or MDC, and ZANU-PF parties jostled for support ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for June 24-25 that Mugabe has promised will be free and fair.

The MDC said earlier Wednesday that it would seek a court order to push back the deadline for nominating parliamentary candidates for the election, announced Monday by Mugabe.

A police spokesman said the clashes had taken place late Tuesday in Budiriro township on the outskirts of the capital, Harare, but the news was not released until Wednesday.

The victim, believed to be an MDC supporter, died from his wounds, bringing the death toll in Zimbabwe’s political violence to 21.

“He died in hospital early today. We are trying to find out which party he belonged to, but we suspect he was MDC. Some other 18 people were injured during the clashes Tuesday night,” the spokesman said.

Besides the latest fatality, at least 15 black members and supporters of the MDC, four white farmers and a police officer have been killed, and hundreds of black farm workers have been beaten or raped in recent weeks.

The MDC said it would file for the order later Wednesday, arguing that Mugabe’s government had broken the law by setting nomination and election dates before constituency boundaries were drawn.

Human rights groups and the Commonwealth, which includes mainly Britain and its former colonies, including Zimbabwe, pressed Mugabe to ensure that the vote will be free and fair.

The ZANU-PF is facing the strongest opposition of its 20 years in power, and critics say it is responding by waging a terror campaign among rural voters and backing violent seizures of white-owned farmland. Mugabe, 76, does not face reelection until 2002.

The Democrat Union of Africa, or DUA, a league of mainly opposition parties, called for the urgent deployment of international observers before the parliamentary poll.

Marthinus van Schalkwyk, leader of South Africa’s New National Party, said observers were vital to lay the basis for free and fair elections.

“Our call is for the deployment of many more international election observers, and please start now,” he told a news conference in Harare after meetings with civic and opposition groups.

Mozambique’s chief opposition leader, Afonso Dhlakama, said the DUA was deeply concerned that violence would mar the vote.

Human rights group Amnesty International urged “impartial policing of all preelection activities and investigations of any incidents of rights abuses.” It called for an end to violence and intimidation “to ensure that all parties can participate in rallies of any political parties without fear.”

MDC officials in the eastern town of Chimanimani said that five more MDC supporters were abducted overnight and were feared dead.

“Five people have been abducted. We have reports that they have been killed, but we are still trying to confirm that,” MDC organizer James Mundenda said. He said the attack took place on land owned by Roy Bennett, a white farmer and an MDC parliamentary candidate.

David Coltart, legal secretary for the MDC, said the government violated the law when it set nomination and election dates before a commission charged with setting constituency boundaries ended its work.

Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa told the state-owned Herald newspaper that the government had acted legally.