WORLD> Africa
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WORLD> Africa
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Zimbabwe police charge protesters, cholera spreads
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-04 13:56 Military Worries Wednesday's protests follow unprecedented clashes between soldiers and Zimbabweans on Monday. Dozens of unarmed soldiers were involved in running battles with mobs and riot police after seizing cash from vendors and illegal foreign currency traders.
Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi said measures has been put in place to prevent acts of violence by what state media called "rogue soldiers". "Let me also emphasise that those who may try to incite some members of the uniformed forces to indulge in illegal activities will be found equally culpable," Sekeramayi was quoted as saying by the state-owned Herald newspaper. Analysts said the emergence of dissent in Mugabe's security establishment showed the impact of economic instability and might compound the myriad problems faced by Mugabe's government. "I think they've got every cause to be worried completely ... if they can't take the troops with them, they are really in trouble. And if this is a start of some kind of a rebellion by the troops then we could see change in Zimbabwe a lot quicker than it seemed likely a while ago," said Steven Friedman, political analyst at the University of Johannesburg. The spread of cholera over Zimbabwe's borders may also force neighbouring countries to take action. The International Federation of the Red Cross said six people had died in South Africa with 400 cases reported. "The problem is massive," Robin Waudo, a Red Cross spokesman in Zimbabwe, told Reuters Television. Malawian Health Minister Khumbo Kachali told Reuters health services had been put on high alert after a Zimbabwean truck driver was admitted to a hospital there with the disease. At a reception centre in the South African border town of Musina, where cholera victims were being treated, many said there was no water or food in their homeland. "There is nothing in Zimbabwe," said one Zimbabwean, who did not want to give his name. |
