Analysts regard escalating violence as a warning sign that president is gearing up for elections and fear repeat of 2008 polls

This article is more than 9 years old

This article is more than 9 years old

Violence has surged in Zimbabwe with reports of mob attacks, death threats, politically motivated arrests and at least one shooting ahead of possible elections, civil rights groups claim.

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) claims youth militias loyal to Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party are "running amok" in poor townships, and accuses the police of siding with the offenders.

Analysts regard the upsurge as a warning sign that Mugabe is gearing up for elections, possibly as early as June, and fear a repeat of the 2008 polls in which the MDC says 253 people died.

"Violence is certainly escalating and we are really worried," said Nelson Chamisa, a government minister and MDC spokesman. "I think it's the talk about elections. Zanu-PF has not graduated from its traditional ways of transacting politics by using violence."

Chamisa saw few grounds for optimism. "Zanu-PF are determined to crush the country," he added. "They don't care; they never have. There is a danger of worse violence. We still want to see a clear roadmap implemented for a free, fair and credible election."

Reports of politically inspired attacks have grown steadily in recent weeks. An MDC youth leader, William Mukuwari, claims he was assaulted and shot in the leg by a gang including a Zanu-PF chairperson in Budiriro township last month.

Trouble erupted on Monday outside an MDC district office in Mbare, a township in the capital, Harare. At least 70 pro-Mugabe militants were trucked in to throw stones and carry out assaults, an independent doctors' group said today. The rampaging mob sang Zanu-PF songs and slogans and carried party flags.

Several MDC members were treated for "grave injuries" after the disturbances, the doctors said. Seven people were arrested but "there are no reports of perpetrators being arrested".

The MDC also claims that police are refusing to arrest Zanu-PF members. It said: "The police have become openly and undisputedly partisan in that in cases of any skirmishes involving youths from rival political parties, it is the MDC that suffers most.

"At the moment, dozens of MDC youths have been arrested and charged with public violence, a sizeable number is nursing gunshot and stab wounds in hospitals, hundreds are being hounded out of their homes, and MDC property is being destroyed with impunity."

On Wednesday armed riot police reportedly sealed off the downtown offices of the Harare city council as it was besieged by mobs chanting Zanu-PF slogans. Council staff fled the building.

A number of groups have warned of a rising political temperature. The Southern Africa Coalition for the Survivors of Torture reported that tensions in Zimbabwe rose markedly in January.

ZimRights, a human rights organisation, said "high density suburbs in Harare are rapidly turning into warzones". It warned the MDC against an armed response that "brings to mind civil unrest in Egypt which is resulting in unwarranted loss of life".

John Makumbe, a Harare-based political scientist, told IRIN: "What you see is the tip of the iceberg. More violence is taking place in rural areas and going unreported.

"State agents are now part of the organised violence, and there is bound to be a sharp increase in political disturbances in the coming months. If the elections are [held] there will be bloodshed."