Zimbabwe strikers accused in court as recount drags into third day

Apr 21, 2008, 18:32 GMT

Harare - Dozens of people appeared in a Zimbabwe court on Monday charged with violence or incitement over a recent strike as a recount of votes from last month's disputed elections, in which President Robert Mugabe is trying to cling to power, dragged on for a third day.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) called the April 15 strike to press for the release of results from last month's presidential elections.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai claims he won the March 29 election outright after his party won the elections to the lower house of parliament.

But Mugabe's Zanu-PF party says there was no clear winner in the presidential vote and that a run-off is required.

An independent electoral observation non-governmental organization (NGO) also estimated neither candidate took more than 50 per cent, but put Tsvangirai very close.

The state-controlled Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has refused to release the election results, citing objections to the results and the need for verification, while agreeing to recount votes cast in 23 constituencies at the behest of Zanu-PF.

As the recount of votes for both president and parliament that the MDC is boycotting dragged into a third day, around 30 people appeared in the magistrate's court charged variously with inciting violence, attempted murder, public violence and malicious damage to property.

A freelance journalist, Frank Chikowore, who was arrested while covering the burning of a bus and charged with arson, arrived in court with his mouth gagged - in a show of protest over the silencing of some journalists by Mugabe's government.

One female suspect who had a swollen red face and red eye, which her lawyer Charles Kwaramba said was inflicted in a beating by soldiers, limped out of the dock after her hearing was over.

The magistrate deferred a decision on their bail application until Tuesday.

The MDC and rights groups have accused youth militia and soldiers loyal to Mugabe's party of attacking scores of people suspected of voting for the MDC and Tsvangirai since the election.

The MDC claims 10 of its supporters have been killed, 3,000 families displaced and around 500 people hospitalized in the violence.

New York-based Human Rights Watch last week also reported the establishment of torture camps, where it said people were punished for voting for the MDC.

The government for its part has accused the MDC of trying to curry international support for its election victory.

'It's so peaceful. We're just sitting here with my friends having a glass of wine,' Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga told South African radio.

The reports of violence against civilians has provoked alarm over the arrival in southern African waters of a Chinese ship bearing arms for Zimbabwe.

After hightailing it out of the South African port of Durban on Friday following a court order to impound the cargo, the ship was reportedly headed west towards Angola.

A South African Defence Ministry spokesman told SAPA news agency the vessel was situated off South Africa's west coast.

South Africa's trade union federation COSATU and the South Africa Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) on Monday called for an international boycott of the vessel, which SATAWU dock workers in Durban had refused to unload.

'COSATU is doing everything possible to alert the international trade union movement to the danger to the workers of Zimbabwe if the cargo is allowed to be unloaded and delivered to Mugabe's forces,' the federation said in a statement.

SATAWU also called on trade unions in other African countries to to refuse to handle the 'lethal cargo.'