- guardian.co.uk, Sunday May 26 2002 01.58 BST
An independent inquiry by the Danish group Physicians for Human Rights says the attacks appear to be aimed at destroying support for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
The upsurge in anti-MDC violence follows an explicit warning by Mugabe immediately after his re-election three months ago of his plans for its supporters. 'We will make them run. If they haven't run before, we will make them run now,' he told a rally of his Zanu-PF party in rural Zvimba on 31 March.
The doctors' report now accuses the President's supporters of denying food to tens of thousands of people in drought-stricken areas, where millions are facing food shortages because they backed the MDC.
While estimates vary of the number of people who could starve - between 600,000 and three million - the report's authors estimate a shortfall of supplies of maize, the staple food, of between 400,000 and one million tonnes.
People in rural areas have three main ways of getting maize: through government 'food for work' programmes; buying it from the government-controlled Grain Marketing Board and through donor schemes for school pupils and the under- fives.
All three sources are being manipulated politically to deny food to the families of opposition supporters, the study says. 'Those who do not carry a Zanu card are not allowed to purchase maize from the board, and known MDC supporters report having maize stolen from them if they are lucky enough to buy it.'
The researchers have documented cases of MDC families told they cannot take part in the 'food for work' schemes.
The most serious allegations about maize, however, concern denial of supplementary food to children. In one area of Zimbabwe's Midlands, the visiting doctors found evidence of the deliberate starvation of under-fives from MDC families by local Zanu headmen.
In an account disguising the real names of people and places for fear of fresh reprisals, they found children denied maize at a 'central feeding point in YY school'. Three headmen in charge of supplies to the under-fives 'made it clear the food was not for MDC children, but only for Zanu children.'
A representative of the international donor of the food tried to sort out the problem, making it clear that it was for all the villagers. He believed this was agreed, and rode away on his motorcycle. Yet before he had gone 500 yards, 'the local Zanu-PF councillor announced: "Even if stone was to melt, MDC children will not get the food, because it is Zanu food".'
In another incident recorded by the researchers in the Matabeleland South constituency on 15 May, women wanted supplies which had been delivered by army lorries that day. 'Mrs P went to a business centre to buy maize. She and others from her area did not get any as Mr U, the district Zanu-PF chairman, said MDC supporters should not benefit.'
The evidence of people denied food coincides with a sharp increase in intimidation and violence aimed at MDC supporters.
On 2 May, the doctors examined a man, N, in the country's second city, Bulawayo, who had been tortured so badly he is disabled permanently, the report claims.
N and a friend were kidnapped by a group of men, and taken to a nearby militia camp. 'There they were ordered to remove their shoes as their kidnappers chanted Zanu slogans.
'The militia beat him and his friend on the soles of their feet. He was beaten all over the body, and burned with cigarettes on both upper arms and on his head.
'One person took a flaming log from the camp fire. One person sat on his chest and another held his right foot. The foot was forced against the burning log and held there.' A medical examination by the doctors found an open burn wound 5.5ins (9cm) long and 3.5ins (9cm) wide on his right foot.
Similar damage to the man's left foot was so severe that it left him unable to walk. A wound almost two inches (5cm) deep in the centre of the sole exposed the tendon.
The MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai told The Observer yesterday: 'The illegitimate Mugabe regime has implemented a systematic campaign of violent retribution against all those suspected of voting for the MDC.
'Not only is Mugabe prepared to use violence to achieve his objectives, he is prepared to exploit Zimbabwe's horrific humanitarian crisis for his political ends.
'Thousands of MDC reporters are being denied food aid. My biggest fear is that an integral part of Mugabe's retribution campaign is the forced starvation of thousands of people suspected of opposing his illegitimate regime.'
