LibriumArcana.Games

A top Zimbabwe army general called on the nation's soldiers to vote for Robert Mugabe in a presidential runoff or quit the military, the official media reported Saturday.


Robert Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for nearly three decades, faces a vote runoff on June 27.


Army Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Martin Chedondo told troops at a target-shooting competition to leave the military if they did not support Mugabe, the state Herald newspaper reported.

"Soldiers are not apolitical. Only mercenaries are apolitical. We have signed up and agreed to fight and protect the ruling party's principles of defending the revolution. If you have other thoughts, then you should remove that uniform," he was quoted as saying.

He told soldiers at the Cleveland shooting range outside Harare on Friday that Mugabe was head of the nation's defense forces.

"We should therefore stand behind our commander in chief," he reportedly said.

In the past, the country's generals, mostly veterans of the bush war that led to independence from Britain in 1980, have vowed never to salute Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, if he were to become president.

In a report released Wednesday, the respected International Crisis Group said that senior military commanders opposed to Tsvangirai were instrumental in preventing a democratic transition after the March 29 election.

The opposition party won a majority in parliament and Tsvangirai won the presidential race, though not by an absolute majority.

The crisis group warned that there was a "growing risk of a coup" either before the June 27 presidential runoff as a pre-emptive move to deny Tsvangirai victory, or after a Tsvangirai win.
Don't Miss

* Tsvangirai returns home despite plot fears
* Zimbabwe assassination plot: Finger pointed at military
* Zimbabwe run-off announced for end of June

The think tank called for urgent mediation to "address the loyalty of the security services as a priority, including the handover of military power in a transitional government arrangement."

Chedondo repeated claims by Mugabe that's Tsvangirai's party was backed by Britain and its Western allies in a bid to regain "imperialist" influence in the southern African nation.

"The willingness to serve the country ... should burn forever so that the country does not slip away," Chedondo said.

He said troops were being deployed across the nation to help police curb political violence before the runoff between Mugabe and Tsvangirai.

Independent human rights groups have accused police and soldiers of taking part in state-orchestrated violence against government opponents -- charges army officials have denied.

Tsvangirai's party says at least 50 of its supporters have been killed and tens of thousands displaced from their homes in violence since the first round of voting on March 29.

The Movement for Democratic Change party convened what it called a session of parliament Friday and declared itself as Zimbabwe's new ruling party, in defiance of Mugabe.
advertisement

In what he described as a "state of the nation" address, Tsvangirai said Zimbabwe was about to witness "a new and different era of governance."

The opposition won 110 seats in the 210-seat parliament in the elections, giving it control of the legislature for the first time since independence from Britain in 1980. Mugabe's ZANU-PF party won 97 and three by-elections are pending.