Matabeleland—horror stories

Press, 11 March 1983, Page 16

Matabeleland—horror stories

From the Harare correspondent of ‘The Economist’

The stories trickling out of Matabeleland, Zimbabwe’s western province, suggest not the excesses of undisciplined soldiers, but a massacre. Members of the local churches say that at least 1000 people have been killed. Rumours talk of even more. The Bishop of Matabeleland has called for an independent inquiry by Amnesty International or the Red Cross. Mr Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister, is reported to have sent a special envoy to investigate. Otherwise there has been ominous Government silence. Reconciliation was bound to be difficult in Zimbabwe, with its history of tribal as well as racial

conflict. Animosity between the minority Ndebele people and the Shona-speaking majority runs deep. Fears are now growing that a massacre of the Ndebele. whose homeland is Matabeleland, is part of the Government's response to a problem for which it has no political solution. Having won Zimbabwe's 1980 independence election — in which votes were cast largely along tribal lines — the Shona were determined that there should be no comeback by the Ndebele. A year ago the discovery of some arms caches was made the basis for charges that Ndebele leaders had been plotting a coup. The most prominent of them, Mr Joshua

Nkomo, was dismissed from the Cabinet. This set in train the dissident violence. The security forces had lost control of parts of Matabeleland by midJanuary this year. Some 1000 guerrillas were active and more than 100 people had been killed. The decision was taken to deploy the Fifth Brigade, the North Koreantrained force drawn exclusively from the ranks of Mr Robert Mugabe's ruling group. It seems fairly certain that official approval was given for the troops to go in hard. The soldiers have been disiciplined and civil in dealing with white farmers in the area, but the reports of atrocities against Ndebele peasants are now too wide-spread to be dismissed. The accounts of indiscriminate beatings and killings are horribly numerous, and it is also clear that relief food is not being allowed to

reach drought-stricken areas. The campaign to discredit Mr Nkomo and his Z.A.P.U. party intensifies. While the trial of senior Z.A.P.U. party and military men on charges of treason continues in the High Court, the Government has been inching towards taking legal action against Mr Nkomo himself. In mid-February he was detained and has since been cooped up in his Bulawayo home. A danger from the Government's point of view is that embittered former Nkomo guerrillas — some 13,000 of whom are now included in Zimbabwe’s 45,000-man army — will find in South Africa an ally only too willing to exploit Zimbabwe’s split. Some independent sources believe that the rebels are already receiving arms and ammunition from South Africa. So does Mr Mugabe, according to a speech he made late last month.