Zimbabwe paper makes 'body bag' threat to diplomat
Zimbabwe state media increased its attacks on Western diplomats accused of supporting government opponents today with an apparent death threat against British embassy political officer Gillian Dare.
The state Herald, a government mouthpiece, called Dare “the purse holder and financier” of an alleged violence and terror campaign by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
“It will be a pity for her family to welcome her home at Heathrow Airport in a body bag just like some of her colleagues from Iraq and Afghanistan,” wrote David Samuriwo in an article prominently displayed on the newspaper’s leader page.
It said Dare, “labelled in some sections of the media as a British spy, could one day be caught in the crossfire as she plays night nurse to arrested MDC hooligans”.
The threat was the strongest against a Western diplomat during escalating political unrest in the southern Africa country.
President Robert Mugabe has threatened to expel US Ambassador Christopher Dell and other Western envoys for criticising the government and allegedly bankrolling opposition activists to mount protests and demonstrations aimed at triggering “regime change” in Zimbabwe.
The state media has given prominence to the presence of Western diplomats at court appearances and news conferences of opposition activists, including Morgan Tsvangirai, head of the main opposition, who suffered bone fractures, back wounds and internal injuries in police beatings after a prayer meeting was crushed in western Harare on March 11.
The activists said afterward they were forced to lie face down and were kicked, whipped and beaten with iron bars and clubs.
Opposition detainees were at first held without food, medical attention or access to their lawyers.
State television showed diplomats delivering parcels of takeout food for Mr Tsvangirai and other detainees.
Mr Dell walked out of a meeting of diplomats summoned last month by Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi who warned they were in breach of diplomatic protocol and could be deported.
Samuriwo said Dare, the British political officer, had also become “a prime target for deportation”.
He accused her of recruiting local journalists, intellectuals and opposition figures to paint Mr Mugabe in a bad light and sponsoring so-called democratic resistance cells perpetrating violence.
Mr Mugabe himself has acknowledged Mr Tsvangirai and least 40 opposition activists were beaten up while in custody last month, warning perpetrators of protests they would be “bashed” again if they continued to incite violence, a reference to government accusations that the opposition is to blame for a wave of unrest and petrol bomb attacks, allegations the opposition has repeatedly denied.
He told regional leaders at a summit last week that Mr Tsvangirai “asked for it”.
