A report released this week by the church-based organisation Solidarity Peace Trust documents violent repression, widespread torture, and abuse of power by the Mugabe regime.  Investigators interviewed over 400 persons who had been victims of state violence in recent months.

In the 44-page document, the trust accuses the Mugabe regime of continuing to use violence against its political opponents in order to cling to power.

"Out of 414 individuals interviewed, 30 percent, or 122, reported torture between March, April and May 2007. This is a shockingly high figure, yet it represents [only a] tip of the iceberg in Zimbabwe. Apart from politically motivated torture, torture of those arrested on suspicion of having committed a criminal offence is routine in Zimbabwe," notes the report.

"In 90 percent of the attacks, government agencies such as the police, Central Intelligence Organization (CIO), Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and army" were involved, it adds. More than three-quarters of reported cases were in the capital, Harare, "one of the two major urban areas considered to be opposition territory".

In launching the report, Pius Ncube, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo. called Mugabe “a megalomaniac” who “loves power . . . lives for power”.

The report, entitled “Destructive Engagement: Violence, mediation and politics in Zimbabwe”, can be downloaded here (pdf).  The Solidarity Peace Trust is co-chaired by Abp Ncube and Rubin Phillips, Anglican Bishop of KwaZulu-Natal, Republic of South Africa.

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