Fighting erupts in Zimbabwe Army

Press, 11 February 1981, Page 9

Fighting erupts in Zimbabwe Army

NZPA-Reuter Salisbury • Factional clashes among soldiers of Zimbabwe’s new national Army, during which one man was killed, have provided fresh evidence of the internal strains afflicting the country’s ruling coalition. The clashes yesterday were the first known instance of the fledgling Army — formed of former guerrillas loyal to the Prime Minister (Mr Robert Mugabe) or the minority leader, Joshua Nkomo — splitting along the tribal and political lines that have traditionally divided the two men’s forces. A soldier died and two women were wounded when a passenger train was raked with gunfire as Army men battled with automatic rifles near the south-western city of Bulawayo. Of the two guerrilla groupings from which the new national forces is being raised, Mr Nkomko’s force is rooted among the minority Ndebele people and has long been supported by the Soviet Union. Mr Mugabe’s numerically stronger force draw’s its men from the majority Shonas and, during the seven-year war against

white rule, was snubbed by Moscow. The two armies fought the war as nominal allies but never achieved unity. They have clashed on ' several occasions since ' Zimbabwe became independent of Britain last April but no factional fighting within tne new national Army had been reported before this past week-end. Mr Mugabe and Mr Nkomo are committed to developing the national army as a means of bringing the rival groups together. So far, more than 11,000 men, drawn equally from the two guerrilla armies, have been integrated into the new force and the Government is aiming to increase its size to 35,000 by August this year. The latest fighting, which took place 30km from Bulawayo, is bound to raise doubts about the cohesiveness of the Army under political pressure, military experts said. Shots were also fired on Saturday evening at a beerhall near an Army bar ;-cks, a day after one of Mr Nkomo’s senior aides, Nelson Marembo, was killed by a landmine explosi i in the driveway of his Salisbury home.

In addition, in the troubled Salisbury suburb of Chitungwiza Nkomo men were disgruntled at being ordered to evacuate a strategically placed cantonment.