zimbabwe: Army, Police On High Alert

The government has placed a crack army battalion and riot police units on high alert in Harare and directed them to crush any opposition mass action meant to force a fresh presidential election, security officials said this week. They said the government's Joint Operation Command (JOC), a think-tank of top military and security officials, had mapped out a broad security plan to stamp down on the mass action that is being planned by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which accuses President Robert Mugabe of stealing the March vote.