The brutal destruction of Zimbabwe by its meglomaniacal dictator Robert Mugabe continues apace, on a scale that boggles the imagination. This tortured nation, once a breadbasket of Africa, is reverting to an almost pre-human condition. Murder, torture, and rape of the young are now instruments of the state.
President Robert Mugabe's government has set up secret camps across the country in which thousands of youths are taught how to torture and kill, the BBC has learned. The Zimbabwean government says the camps are job training centres, but those who have escaped say they are part of a brutal plan to keep Mugabe in power.Former recruits to the camps have spoken to the BBC's Panorama programme about a horrific training programme that breaks young teenagers down before encouraging them to commit atrocities.
In accounts gathered by BBC Panorama from dozens of youths, it appears that for many of them the training in the camps begins with rape.
President Mugabe has visited the camps. Ministry insiders have told Panorama that his government knows what goes on inside them. Food is often scarce. Youths are beaten until they succumb to orders. They are taught that their mission is to keep President Mugabe in power.
Mugabe does have one fervent admirer: dictator-in-the-making Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. They got together for some mutual admiration recently. Birds of a feather always hang... together.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez praised Zimbabwe's embattled President Robert Mugabe as a "freedom fighter," bestowing the visiting African leader with a replica of South American independence hero Simon Bolivar's sword.Posted by Alan at February 29, 2004 08:24 AM"I give you a replica of liberator Simon Bolivar's sword," Chavez said Thursday after the two leaders signed an energy co-operation agreement.
"For you, who like Bolivar, took up arms to liberate your people. For you, who like Bolivar, are and will always be a true freedom fighter," Chavez said. "He continues, alongside his people, to confront the pretensions of new imperialists."
Mugabe, who was in Venezuela for the February 27-28 summit of the G-15 group of developing nations, grinned as he unsheathed the sword and swung it about.