Johannesburg/Harare - Mobs of uniformed but unarmed soldiers
followed by hundreds of civilians went on the rampage in Harare late
Monday in the first serious unrest in Zimbabwe in a decade.
Several live rounds were fired as authorities deployed a large
force of heavily-armed troops and riot police, and at least one man
was reported shot. It was not known whether the shooting was fatal.
Panic ensued as vehicles were stoned, shops looted and their
windows smashed as the mobs - some waving the open hand salute of the
country's pro-democracy Movement for Democratic Change - whistled and
danced through the city centre.
The force of anti-riot police was swiftly deployed and the mobs
dispersed, leaving bricks and stones littering the road.
Observers said the incident underlined the deep discontent within
President Robert Mugabe's 25,000-strong army.
Mugabe's generals are seen as deeply loyal to the 84-year-old
autocrat, but the rank-and-file troops are subject to the hardships
ordinary Zimbabweans endure in the country's rapidly worsening
crisis.
Witnesses said the violence broke out when soldiers waiting in
bank queues became angry over the failure of the banks to provide
them with cash.
The solders turned on scores of illegal money changers at a nearby
long-distance bus depot, where huge volumes of Zimbabwe dollar
currency changes hands for US dollars while banks struggle to find
cash for their customers.
The money changers scattered, the witnesses said. Similar
incidents on a much lower scale occurred last week, reports here
said.
It was the first time that rioting has erupted in Harare since
sharp rises in the prices of basic commodities 10 years ago, but
observers say it is highly significant that Mugabe had to quell
rioting soldiers with other troops.
Witnesses said they saw police assaulting the rioting soldiers
with night sticks.
The country is in economic meltdown, with hyperinflation at world
record quadrillions, the currency almost valueless, nearly 4 million
people facing famine, the country's urban areas stricken by an
unchecked cholera epidemic and services like schools and hospitals
shut.
The state of the country's failure was underlined Monday by the
complete breakdown of water supplies to the capital's estimated 2
million people.
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