MDC UNDER SIEGE: ABDUCTIONS, ARRESTS, GOVERNMENT

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 000269

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

AF/S FOR S. HILL
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR B. PITTMAN
USAID FOR M. COPSON AND E. LOKEN
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU
ADDIS ABABA FOR ACSS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/30/2017
TAGS: PHUM PGOV ASEC ZI
SUBJECT: MDC UNDER SIEGE: ABDUCTIONS, ARRESTS, GOVERNMENT
PROPAGANDA

REF: A. A. HARARE 00254


B. B. 06 HARARE 00297

C. C. TD-314/19625-07

Classified By: Ambassador Christopher Dell under Section 1.5 b/d

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Summary
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1. (C) Assailants believed to be government agents have
abducted and beaten at least nine opposition supporters since
March 3. Additionally, the police reported 35 opposition
activists were in custody following a series of raids,
including on MDC headquarters March 28. Human rights lawyers
said police were detaining as many as 100. There were
reports that many of the detainees were badly beaten by
police. The Herald and other GOZ mouthpieces have attempted
to spin the arrests as part of a GOZ battle against
terrorism. Most Zimbabweans see this for what it is -- an
attempt to blame the victims for the continuing violence in
Zimbabwe. End Summary.

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Government Violence and Intimidation Continues
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2. (C) Assailants believed to be government agents have
abducted and beaten at least nine opposition supporters since
March 3, including Last Maengahama, a member of the MDC
national executive, who was taken at gun point from a
shopping center shortly after the March 27 memorial service
for the opposition activist killed by police. Frances
Lovemore, director of Counseling Services Unit (CSU),told us
that the abductions and assaults were most likely carried out
by a "hit squad" of ZANU-PF thugs (Reftel A).


3. (U) The government's continuing assault on the opposition
also included early morning raids on the homes of several MDC
leaders. Police arrested Tsvangirai adviser Ian Makone and
his wife Theresa and reportedly confiscated two guns. Police
also arrested MDC activist Piniel Denga and claimed to have
found explosives and bomb making materials. Additionally, an
undetermined number of MDC supporters were detained. One
unconfirmed story received from an American NGO reports
eyewitness accounts of a man being shot dead by police
outside MDC headquarters in Harvest House during Wednesday's
raids.


4. (SBU) As of today, the number of opposition activists
detained by police, including those arrested in the March 28
invasion of MDC headquarters, remained unconfirmed as lawyers
continued to be denied access to their clients. The
government-controlled newspaper The Herald reported on March
29 that 35 opposition activists were in custody. Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) lawyer Otto Saki told us on
March 30 that the number of detainees could be as high as 100
based on the number of opposition activists that remained
unaccounted for. Saki also said that there were rumors that
police had released 30 detainees on March 29, but ZLHR
lawyers had yet to speak with any of those supposedly
released.


5. (SBU) Nine of those detained appeared in court on March

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29; Theresa Makone and Denga were among the group. Ian
Makone appeared on the charge list but was not present.
Theresa Makone told the British poloff that Ian Makone and
other detainees were badly beaten by police. A Harare FSN
told us that both of Ian Makone's hands were broken during
the beatings, but Theresa Makone was not beaten. Detainees
faced charges of illegal possession of weapons and attempted
murder in connection with alleged recent petrol bombings.
They were remanded to custody pending further court
proceedings on March 30.

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So Does Propaganda Campaign
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6. (SBU) In an attempt to paint the opposition as violent and
to justify the government's brutal response, the government
daily The Herald splashed photos of two handguns, several
cans of spray paint and various unidentified objects
purportedly confiscated in the raids on the MDC under its
March 30 headline - "Police nab 35 MDC activists, confiscate
arms, explosives." The article claimed that the activists
arrested were the primary suspects behind the recent "spate
of terror bombings" being carried out by the MDC's violent
"underground cells" known as the "Democratic Resistance
Committees."

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Comment
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7. (S/NF) Our interlocutors have universally told us that
most Zimbabweans have seen through the GOZ's lies and
attempts to blame the victims of violence for its own
depredations. One reason is that the GOZ's propaganda
efforts are simply pathetic. The front page Herald
photograph, under its lurid headline of weapons seized showed
two pistols. This is reminiscent of last year's arrests in
Mutare of a former Rhodesian policeman, Peter Hitschmann,
whom the government accused of supplying guns to the MDC
(Reftel B). This case led to MDC Treasurer Roy Bennett's
fleeing the country and seeking asylum in South Africa. The
photographic evidence in that case was equally laughable -- a
handful of long guns and pistols )- about average for a
Zimbabwean household. The concerted campaign of abductions,
beatings and possibly killings appears to be the
implementation of orders reported in Reftel C. End Comment.
DELL