ZIMBABWE: Up to 50,000 displaced need help

ZIMBABWE: Up to 50,000 displaced need help - rights group

JOHANNESBURG, 5 April (IRIN) - Human rights group Zimbabwe in Crisis
appealed for urgent assistance on Friday for at least 50,000 people who it
says have been displaced by political violence and land seizures.

"We are dealing with a humanitarian crisis and are asking organisations
like the United Nations and the United Nations High Commission for
Refugees to help," said spokesman Kumbirai Hodzi.

Hodzi said the displaced were mainly rural victims of political
intimidation and farmworkers rendered homeless through land seizures. The
worst hit areas were Chimanimani, Mashonaland east, west and central and
the farmlands of Shamva, Norton and Mazowe, Hodzi told IRIN.

"There is a hooligan element to the farm seizures. The farmers are not
allowed to take anything from the farm and there is a lot of crime and
extortion involved. Some (farmers) are being kidnapped and held hostage,
some are being taken to the bank in Norton and forced to draw money and
told the war veterans will pay the farm workers, but they (farmworkers)
don't get the money. The farmers are living with friends and are not
allowed to go back and the farmworkers are almost destitute," he told
IRIN.

Hodzi said in some rural areas won by ZANU-PF, those who voted for the
Movement for Democratic Change were being driven out of their villages.
"It is a human tragedy. People are reaching out for help - they haven't
eaten for days. At least 500 people are camped out at Birchenough Bridge
(in the south east of the country)," he said.

Hodzi told IRIN his organisation was battling to establish safe houses and
centres for those displaced because as soon as their names were
publicised, they came under attack and were forced to relocate. The
organisation met the UNDP on Thursday and wanted the World Food Programme
to help. "We want to establish a sanctuary for these people."

Aid organisations contacted by IRIN could not say how many people have
been displaced, but World Vision Operations Director Marko Ngwenya said he
would be meeting field workers to investigate the reports and assess
whether his organisation could help.
[ENDS]

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