Role of Zimbabwe’s military in election

The World
The World

(What are these documents?) We have two documents: an internal Zanu PF document which details the structure of the Zanu PF campaign to reelect Mugabe. it refers to the Joint Operations Command or JOC as playing a leading role in the management structure. This document suggests that the military is actively involved in the campaign, and many speculate that it goes farther than that. (How does this document add weight to those allegations? Are they saying that Mugabe is yielding some of his power to this JOC?) This documents make it clear that Mugabe is not running the reelection campaign. The other document we obtained lays out some of the tactics that should be used to achieve Mugabe’s reelection: the use of food as a political tool, that people will know the supply of produce is attached to support for Zanu PF; using covert operations to hurt the opposition. I have spoken to Zanu PF about these documents and they say they’re illegal and forgeries and they deny the involvement of the JOC and the military. (What have you done to see that these documents are authentic?) We’ve check the sources. One of the documents came from within Zanu PF. We are satisfied these documents are authentic. The second document may not be absolutely authentic but everything in the document has been borne out. (What did the US Ambassador say to corroborate these documents and what else have you seen that may corroborate them?) In terms of the victims of the violence, the Ambassador said of the victims he’s come into contact, the majority have been victims of Zanu PF. In hospitals we’ve visited, the people said they would not be cowed.

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