KEY POINTS:
Foreign mercenaries have joined so-called "war veterans" and militiamen attacking opposition supporters in rural parts of Zimbabwe, human rights workers say.
Witnesses say the men are more vicious than their Zimbabwean counterparts, with the marauding gangs attacking suspected members of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), forcing them
to renounce the party.
They dress in army fatigues, carry Russian-made guns and are accompanied by interpreters when out with the militias.
Patrick Chitaka, the MDC chairman in Manicaland province in the east of the country, said the foreigners had been identified in the past two to three weeks supporting Government-backed men.
"Some of the people leading the violence are foreigners because they speak a different language and they do not understand our local languages. The tactics they are using are not peculiar with Zimbabweans ... they are cutting out the tongue, removing eyes and genital parts. We are not sure where they come from."
It is the first time reports of foreigners fighting alongside Zanu-PF have surfaced. Since losing the presidential vote on March 29, Robert Mugabe and an inner circle of military and intelligence chiefs have launched a military campaign of violence against opposition areas which voted against him and his party.
More than 100 people have been killed, thousands injured and more than 200,000 displaced as gangs target one-time MDC strongholds.
Mugabe was re-elected in a run-off last month after his opponent Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out.
The claims of violence were supported by human rights workers in Manicaland yesterday. A spokesman for one group who did not want to be named said observers on the ground had witnessed "tens, if not hundreds" of foreigners accompanying Government-backed militias. He said the soldiers were not from neighbouring countries but were more likely from farther north in Africa, possibly Rwanda, Kenya or Uganda.
Local people claim the irregular forces are Hutus from Rwanda, but the human rights representative said he could not be sure. There are an estimated 4000 Hutu refugees living in Zimbabwe, some of whom took part in the genocide of Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 1994. Many fled the country, seeking asylum after the killings, which destabilised neighbouring countries especially the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The human rights official said: "These men do not speak any local languages and are extremely violent. They are attacking people in their homes and as they get off buses, giving them terrible beatings. We do not know what these people are doing in Zimbabwe. There is a problem identifying these people. You cannot go to the police because they say it is political - they are not interested."
The spokesman said observers in two constituencies - Makoni South and Makoni West - west of Zimbabwe's third city of Mutare, had calculated there were up to 200 foreigners spread across both areas.
Chitaka said: "They have gang-raped women and abducted them. People are missing but families are too afraid to look for them."
Rwandan refugees fear they may be sent home if an MDC-led Government came to power. Despite internationally backed efforts to rehabilitate Hutu refugees, fears remain among exiles that those returning will face persecution from the government of President Paul Kagame.
Among those Hutus staying in Zimbabwe is said to be Protais Mpiranya - the former head of the Rwandan presidential guard during the 1994 genocide.
He is on the wanted list of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, but is suspected to have strong business links with senior Zimbabwe Army officers.
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