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Mugabe militias burn women and children alive

posted at 9:47 am on June 12, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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The reign of terror in Zimbabwe hit a new low for atrocities last week. Militias associated with Robert Mugabe have begun burning family members of the political opposition alive. Armed thugs looking for the head of the MDC in Mhondoro satisfied themselves with mutilating and murdering his wife instead, and it wasn’t the first such attack for Mugabe’s goons:

The men who pulled up in three white pickup trucks were looking for Patson Chipiro, head of the Zimbabwean opposition party in Mhondoro district. His wife, Dadirai, told them he was in Harare but would be back later in the day, and the men departed.

An hour later they were back. They grabbed Mrs Chipiro and chopped off one of her hands and both her feet. Then they threw her into her hut, locked the door and threw a petrol bomb through the window.

The killing last Friday – one of the most grotesque atrocities committed by Robert Mugabe’s regime since independence in 1980 – was carried out on a wave of worsening brutality before the run-off presidential elections in just over two weeks. It echoed the activities of Foday Sankoh, the rebel leader in the Sierra Leone civil war that ended in 2002, whose trade-mark was to chop off hands and feet.

Mrs Chipiro, 45, a former pre-school teacher, was the second wife of a junior official of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) burnt alive last Friday by Zanu (PF) militiamen. Pamela Pasvani, the 21-year-old pregnant wife of a local councillor in Harare, did not suffer mutilation but died later of her burns; his six-year-old son perished in the flames.

The UN and the South African Development Community has sat mostly silent while Mugabe rigged election results in order to conduct an unnecessary run-off between himself and Morgan Tsvangirai, who won the first round of voting. Since then, Mugabe and his henchmen have harassed and imprisoned Tsvangirai and conducted a campaign of terror against districts that voted for MDC in the first contest. Now they have resorted to murder, and not just murder but brutality that demonstrates Mugabe’s thirst for power.

What has the international community done? They invited Mugabe to a food conference while he blocked food to his starving citizens. Mugabe dined in Rome on elegantly prepared meals while he denied subsistence foods to Zimbabwe because he feared the influence of foreigners so close to the election. He wants to use the food shipments to extort votes for the Zanu-PF party in order to win the run-off election.

The very fact that Mugabe still receives invitations from the UN and that the SADC hasn’t demanded his resignation shows the impotence and uselessness of both organizations. Special blame falls on South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki, who has squandered his nation’s moral standing by defending Mugabe while he brutalizes Zimbabwe. South Africa owes its freedom in part to an international consensus that isolated its previous racist government, but now can’t be bothered to even criticize the murderous regime on its own border.

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How does this help Michelle Obama’s kids?

corona on June 12, 2008 at 9:49 AM

if Mug-abby was white, this would be lead story/front page news worldwide.

jgapinoy on June 12, 2008 at 9:51 AM

Enough is enough. Just one Tomahawk - targeted at Mugabe’s toilet in a “tragic accident that we deeply regret.” That’s all I ask.

fiatboomer on June 12, 2008 at 9:52 AM

A friend of the liberals can do anything…a n y t h i n g

right2bright on June 12, 2008 at 9:52 AM

Nothing to see here, please move on - we don’t need any questions - Uncle Jimmy vouches for him.

Think_b4_speaking on June 12, 2008 at 9:54 AM

Business as usual. Winnie Mandela kept the home fires burning for Nelson during his imprisonment by “necklacing” political opponents using her very own futball squad. And, Hitchens recently commented on Nelson’s reluctance to use his influence to get rid of Mugabe. Riddle me this. Are average African citizens better off now than during colonial rule?

a capella on June 12, 2008 at 9:57 AM

Good thing Jimmy Carter led the world to eliminate white rule in Rhodesia, so that the free black nation of Zimbabwe could exist. Let us not forget South Africa, the necklacing, baby-raping capital of the world. Getting rid of white rule sure helped them too.

And we all see how black rule in big US cities has been a winning plan, why D.C. and N.O. are just heaven!! Let’s just keep de-legitimizing white people, then we can all have more heaven.

Spartacus on June 12, 2008 at 9:59 AM

Mugabe needs to be shot.

CP on June 12, 2008 at 10:00 AM

The only thing that frustrates me about Robert Mugabe is that he is so damned incorruptible,” Andrew Young, Jimmy Carter’s ambassador to the United Nations, had gushed to the Times of London in 1978.

Barack Obama, running for the second Jimmy carter term when the first has proved to be so deadly.

jp on June 12, 2008 at 10:00 AM

It is difficult to know these things, but I believe it has always been so.

Perhaps the best way to help in the long run is to defeat liberalism here in the US. Otherwise, there will be no one left to even expose the evil.

JiangxiDad on June 12, 2008 at 10:01 AM

I guess it’s better than being eaten.

benrand on June 12, 2008 at 10:01 AM

Which post was it in which I simply stated that I was waiting for the predictable body-count?

Mugabe is simply following the fascist dictator playbook by the numbers. No surprises.

LimeyGeek on June 12, 2008 at 10:04 AM

Not his toilet; his staff meeting with the leaders of his goons. This is one of those rare occasions where assassination would be a good thing.

michaelo on June 12, 2008 at 10:04 AM

That’s not the Mugabe I know.

whitetop on June 12, 2008 at 10:09 AM

I suppose the founder of Code Pink has no worries with unless we go in. Similar to what she thinks about Iraq. Let them fight their own is Code Pinks motto….or is it?

geminicontender on June 12, 2008 at 10:10 AM

I’ll bet a reparation payment plan for slavery would fix things up just fine. Perhaps a Black Congressional Coalition, Rainbow PUSH, a hip hop mayor, or even a black president. Ooops,..wrong country.

a capella on June 12, 2008 at 10:11 AM

Evil, left unchecked, is a prelude to genocide. - Joel Rosenberg

The United Nations was created with the best of intentions, but the best of intentions mean nothing when good men stand by and do nothing.

Unfortunately history will continue to repeat itself because leaders are content to close their eyes and pretend evil does not exist. Also, how can a world leader stand up to this type of tyrant after they have demonized the most powerful nation in the world for saving Afghanistan and Iraq from the same type of evil?

If Bush is Hitler, who is Mugabe?

SwampRat on June 12, 2008 at 10:12 AM

Folks, you’re looking to the wrong venue to do anything.

Its not in the UN mandate to get involved in internal politics of a country. UN was created to stop problems between countries, not within.

As horrid as this is, UN is toothless.

Romeo13 on June 12, 2008 at 10:15 AM

UN is toothless

McCain’s idea of a League of Democracies looks better & better…

jgapinoy on June 12, 2008 at 10:20 AM

Perhaps the best way to help in the long run is to defeat liberalism here in the US. Otherwise, there will be no one left to even expose the evil.

JiangxiDad on June 12, 2008 at 10:01 AM

Yes. The forces of good need at least one stronghold, despite the insidious ‘liberal’ undermining of our country’s foundations over the decades.

LimeyGeek on June 12, 2008 at 10:20 AM

Unless of course, it’s the Jews and Israel causing all the problems, then the UN is all over it.

Romeo13, the UN was created to help with world peace. They involved themselves eventually in the Rwanda thing. They talk big about going into the Sudan. It is their “job” to help resolve internal civil wars too and they be useless.

If Bush is Hitler, who is Mugabe?

This question is not helping Michelle’s children. (I love that quote, it’s so useful for everything)

mjk on June 12, 2008 at 10:22 AM

Yeah, well, there will be a run off election soon, and all they have to do is vote him out of office, right?

Power of the ballot box and all that, what?

rockhauler on June 12, 2008 at 10:22 AM

Forget the election stuff as you read this. Bill Clinton has made Africa his humanitarian project focus since leaving office. He should be interviewed on this, asked if he will work to bring international condemnation down on Mugabe. Maybe even justice.

Doug on June 12, 2008 at 10:24 AM

O/T Breaking,

Supreme Court issues opinion to allow detainees to challenge detention in U.S. Legal system.

This is HUGE.

Squid Shark on June 12, 2008 at 10:26 AM

Folks, you’re looking to the wrong venue to do anything.

Its not in the UN mandate to get involved in internal politics of a country. UN was created to stop problems between countries, not within.

As horrid as this is, UN is toothless.

Romeo13 on June 12, 2008 at 10:15 AM

That’s strange. I wonder what the blue helmeted observers were doing in Lebanon following the last Israel/Hezbolla skirmish. I thought they were there to prevent Hezbolla from rearming. We know how well that worked out after watching the Hezzies face down lebanon’s government. If I didn’t know better, I’d think the U.N. had a political agenda.

a capella on June 12, 2008 at 10:26 AM

Kind of off topic but as an Indian let me thank US, for being a force for good, and defeating communists.

PS. I hope Republicans win in November.

Gaurav on June 12, 2008 at 10:27 AM

And now Tsvangirai has been arrested yet again.

rbj on June 12, 2008 at 10:27 AM

Mugabe needs a visit by Mr. Dam, Jay Dam and Mr. Hawk, Tom A. Hawk.

Tony737 on June 12, 2008 at 10:29 AM

Please read the April 2008 issue of National Geographic. Now THOSE are atrocities!

scottm on June 12, 2008 at 10:30 AM

On Fox now: The SCotUS just ruled that the GITMO detainees have the same rights to American courts as any American citizen! THANK YOU BILL KLINTON! THANK YOU JIMMY CARTER! THANK YOU DEMOCRAT VOTERS AND ANYBODY WHO VOTED FOR ANDERSON OR PEROT! Thank you morons for putting these idiots in office who put these dimwits on the Supreme Court!

Tony737 on June 12, 2008 at 10:32 AM

Lemme try that again:

THANK YOU BILL KLINTON! THANK YOU JIMMY CARTER! THANK YOU DEMOCRAT VOTERS AND ANYBODY WHO VOTED FOR ~~ANDERSON OR~~ PEROT! Thank you morons for putting these idiots in office who put these dimwits on the Supreme Court!

Tony737 on June 12, 2008 at 10:37 AM

A friend of the liberals can do anything…a n y t h i n g

right2bright on June 12, 2008 at 9:52 AM

And still be received as a respected head of state in France and Great Britain.

Obama ‘08, trying to bring the Zimbabwe miracle home. Because it’s not that reparations and land confiscation are bad ideas on their face, but they just didn’t try them the right way.

funky chicken on June 12, 2008 at 10:39 AM

Is there any country in the world that would consider taking this monster out? Is that why the U.S. is so different, because people here think it’s a good thing when someone destroys pure evil like this?

WisCon on June 12, 2008 at 10:40 AM

Oh, and it’s no surprise that the ANC’s Thabo Mbeki is OK with Mugabe either.

funky chicken on June 12, 2008 at 10:41 AM

Kind of off topic but as an Indian let me thank US, for being a force for good, and defeating communists.

PS. I hope Republicans win in November.

Gaurav on June 12, 2008 at 10:27 AM

thanks, that does mean a lot to us …

funky chicken on June 12, 2008 at 10:42 AM

Tony737 on June 12, 2008 at 10:37 AM

Remember that the ‘word’ of the SCOTUS is not law, does not bind us, does not ‘rule’ over us, and can be ignored.

That we don’t ignore their opinions is yet more evidence of how pathetic we have become as a nation. We look upwards like good little sheep to receive their judgement and affirmation.

We need to grow a spine and regain control of our judiciary, as well as the other branches.

LimeyGeek on June 12, 2008 at 10:43 AM

Tony737, well, if we can’t try them, we need to deport them back to country of origin. Their home nations keep telling us they won’t take them….I don’t understand the legality of that.

Any attorneys who can explain it to me?

I’m afraid to ask how Souter voted….

funky chicken on June 12, 2008 at 10:45 AM

And still be received as a respected head of state in France and Great Britain.

Obama ‘08, trying to bring the Zimbabwe miracle home. Because it’s not that reparations and land confiscation are bad ideas on their face, but they just didn’t try them the right way.

funky chicken on June 12, 2008 at 10:39 AM

Mugabe’s certainly not received as a respected head of state in Britain, by liberals or otherwise. In fact he’s one of the few things everyone agrees on.

passingtramp on June 12, 2008 at 10:46 AM

And yeah, I would have zero problem with dropping them over their home countries from the air if that is the only way to “send them home” … call me a redstate warmonger or whatever.

funky chicken on June 12, 2008 at 10:47 AM

passingtramp, uh, he was a couple of years ago, and everybody already knew what was happening to opposition figures and white farmers then

funky chicken on June 12, 2008 at 10:48 AM

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4349042.stm

Hmmm maybe it was only Chirac that gave him the state visit. But he got into Britain on “UN business” somehow or something a while back, didn’t he?

funky chicken on June 12, 2008 at 10:51 AM

Enough is enough. Just one Tomahawk - targeted at Mugabe’s toilet in a “tragic accident that we deeply regret.” That’s all I ask.

Nothing says I love you quite like a Hellfire missile fired from a Predator drone…

I R A Darth Aggie on June 12, 2008 at 10:52 AM

funky chicken on June 12, 2008 at 10:51 AM

Pretty sure not, no.

passingtramp on June 12, 2008 at 10:54 AM

We can confidently predict that the Foreign Office will not revoke Robert Mugabe’s honorary knighthood until the day after the brutalised people of Zimbabwe rise up against their oppressor.

It was the Conservative Government of John Major which required the Queen to bestow that honour, in 1994. This was fully 10years after it had become widely accepted that the Zimbabwean leader had been responsible for the massacre of up to 20,000 civilians in Matabeleland.

The Blair Government has from time to time pretended that it will strip Mugabe of his Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath: in March 2003 a member of the Foreign Office told Scotland on Sunday that “it is inconceivable that he will be allowed to remain a knight when his behaviour is so appalling”.

It is, of course, not inconceivable at all. In December of that year Mr Blair was asked in the House of Commons by a Tory MP whether he would recommend stripping Mugabe of his knighthood. He replied that “we will certainly look at the issue of the honorary knighthood, although I somehow question what the impact of that might be on him”.

Thus the Prime Minister, with his characteristic skill, completely missed the point. It is not to humiliate Robert Mugabe that his knighthood should be revoked: it is to end our own humiliation - and most particularly that of our honours system. Unfortunately, as other events have demonstrated, Mr Blair has a profoundly cynical view of that system. He seems to have seen no merit in it, other than as a means of supporting his own political objectives: as a result he has done far more damage to it than any old Labour socialist, committed on principle to its destruction.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/dominic-lawson/dominic-lawson-compared-to-robert-mugabes-knighthood-salman-rushdies-looks-positively-virtuous-454122.html

OK…it was Italy he gets into “on UN business”

funky chicken on June 12, 2008 at 10:58 AM

Jimmy Carter is proving year after year to be the worst American leftist president ever. He threw away Rhodesia because of devotion to anti-colonialism and worship of the Common Man–and he brought the country hell on earth. He threw away Iran because the Shah was a monarch and trod on the Common Man–and he brought the country an Islamic hell on earth.

These countries, and South Africa, show that the only thing worse than colonialism is independence in a country unprepared to govern itself.

PattyJ on June 12, 2008 at 11:06 AM

Never forget that when Jimmy Carter was President he refused to meet with the democratically winner of the Rhodesia election, and insisted that only a gov’t with Mugabe in charge would be acceptable to the US.

Obama = Carter x 10 (because Obama is a smooth talker…he will be able to fool more people more of the time than Carter ever could.)

The state of the world today is what it is BECAUSE of America’s complacency, which is what it is because the liberals took over America’s educational system. Liberals in the 60’s always said all they needed was to control US education to change the world. They’re getting their wish. How long will Americans allow this to continue?

JustTruth101 on June 12, 2008 at 11:17 AM

Obama ‘08, trying to bring the Zimbabwe miracle home. Because it’s not that reparations and land confiscation are bad ideas on their face, but they just didn’t try them the right way.

funky chicken on June 12, 2008 at 10:39 AM

Or as he states about the gas prices, it can be too quick, you just have to ease into it and it will be acceptable.

right2bright on June 12, 2008 at 11:26 AM

If Mugabe were liquidated tomorrow, the thugocracy would find another figurehead by Sunday. One Predator probably couldn’t do the job.

The country is full of Arkans, and a more general purge will be required to clean up the situation. Being in the heart of Africa, however, there is little impetus for action by the international community.

cthulhu on June 12, 2008 at 11:29 AM

I can empathize with Black/African Americans that hate the USA. Due to their ancestors coming to this continent by force they are missing out on a huge part of their ancestral culture of pure barbaric treatment of fellow Black Africans. Sure, Hip-Hop culture and drive by shootings are almost as good, but it’s just not the same Black on Black they have back in the jungle.

Thankfully the British have lost the ability to control this type of savagery, and we can all breath a heavy sigh of relief with Madella that things are back to where they were before the evil White man arrived.

Hening on June 12, 2008 at 11:30 AM

But…but…Jimmuh Cahtuh once said that a government under Mugabe would be good for Rhodesia.

Vic on June 12, 2008 at 11:42 AM

Yup, yet another world crisis to lay in the lap of Jimmy Carter. But to be fair, Mugabe is 80-some years old and the generals have told him to shut up. My understanding is that a military junta is really running things and they are afraid they would be out of a job if Mugabe loses. But still, thanks, Jimmy … for nothing.

You can also blame Carter for running away from Iran which allowed the Soviets to invade Afghanistan that resulted in the creation of al Qaeda and the Taliban which eventually resulted in 9/11 … Jimmy Carter’s chickens returning to NY to roost.

WORST.PRESIDENT.EVER!!!

crosspatch on June 12, 2008 at 11:52 AM

Robert Mugabe……..father of his county. Yeah.

GarandFan on June 12, 2008 at 12:09 PM

So….business, as usual.

ej_pez on June 12, 2008 at 12:58 PM

Kind of off topic but as an Indian let me thank US, for being a force for good, and defeating communists.

PS. I hope Republicans win in November.

Gaurav on June 12, 2008 at 10:27 AM

Navaho or Cherokee?

gzelmiami on June 12, 2008 at 2:07 PM

Robert Mugabe……..father of his county. Yeah.

Not father. M—–f—er.

njcommuter on June 12, 2008 at 2:54 PM

Enough is enough. Just one Tomahawk - targeted at Mugabe’s toilet in a “tragic accident that we deeply regret.” That’s all I ask.

fiatboomer on June 12, 2008 at 9:52 AM

I agree, but be honest about it. We smoked his monsterous ass cause he had it coming.

ThePrez on June 12, 2008 at 4:28 PM

Kind of off topic but as an Indian let me thank US, for being a force for good, and defeating communists.

PS. I hope Republicans win in November.

Gaurav on June 12, 2008 at 10:27 AM

Gaurav,

Why are you thanking the US for defeating Communists on a thread discussing Zimbabwae and South Africa?

The US and Europe (and the rest of the world) did everything possible to deliver these two countries into Communist rule. Now both these countries are completely wrecked.

Ed Morrissey talks about South Africa, the world’s only genuine Communist democracy, and its “freedom” but there is no rule of law there. A society without the rule of law cannot function.

aengus on June 12, 2008 at 4:31 PM

Who cares ? This is Africa and it is black on black. O, to be born black ! Cannot do anything wrong in the eyes of our government. Is there still a black caucus in congress ? I do not blame Mbeki and his thugs. They are just protecting their brothers.

SIJ6141 on June 12, 2008 at 5:57 PM

Romeo 13: The UN also was all over South Africa back in the old days. I suppose that was only because the U.S. and other countries of the west shares their view at the time ?

SIJ6141 on June 12, 2008 at 6:09 PM