Zimbabwe Takes Harsh Steps to Counter Unrest - New York Times

The mad ways of Mugabe continue...

Zimbabwe Takes Harsh Steps to Counter Unrest - New York Times: "JOHANNESBURG, June 1 - Facing rising unrest over a collapsing economy, Zimbabwe's authoritarian government has apparently adopted a scorched-earth policy toward potential enemies, detaining thousands of people, burning homes and street kiosks and routing large numbers of people from makeshift homes in major cities."...
But reports in the local press and from witnesses indicate that the police have detained or arrested as many as 30,000 residents in big cities and evicted hundreds of thousands more from shantytowns on the fringes of most cities...
Some political analysts say President Robert G. Mugabe's government is making a pre-emptive move against urban unrest over the economic collapse, which has left store shelves empty of basic foodstuffs and made gasoline all but unobtainable. The economy, always perilous, has sharply worsened since the elections as a shortage of foreign exchange has stopped businesses from buying imported components and kept food imports well below needs...
"Overnight, Zimbabwe has been turned into a massive internal refugee center with between 1 million and 1.5 million people displaced in Harare alone," Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, said at the news conference. "Property worth millions of dollars has gone up in flames. Families are out in the open without jobs, without shelter."..