200805101244 | Dramatic rise in Zimbabwe violence

Dramatic rise in Zimbabwe violence

Harare - Levels of organised violence and torture have escalated dramatically in the last fortnight in Zimbabwe amid mounting tensions over the country's disputed elections, a coalition of doctors said on Friday. "Since the last report on 25 April, our members have reported a dramatic escalation in incidents of organised violence and torture with the number of victims documented in the post-election period now standing over 900," the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights said in a statement.

"This figure grossly underestimates the number of victims countrywide as the violence is now on such a scale that it is impossible to properly document all cases."

The association said that the number of cases appeared to have risen particularly sharply in the last week, blaming the security services and hardline supporters of veteran President Robert Mugabe for the attacks.

"In the last 24 hours alone, 30 victims have been treated for limb fractures in Harare hospitals and clinics and supplies of plaster of Paris bandages are reported to be exhausted in most health centres," it said.

"The current pattern of organised torture and violence being perpetrated by state security agents in the rural areas of Zimbabwe is similar to that documented prior to the 2002 elections" when Mugabe was last re-elected.

"However, the current violence is dramatically more intensive and unrestrained. The level of brutality and callousness exhibited by the perpetrators is unprecedented and the vicious and cowardly attacks by so called war veterans on women, children and the elderly shames the memory of all true heroes of the liberation struggle."