Zimbabwe says purges decreased crime

HARARE - More than 42,000 people had been arrested or had their goods seized as Zimbabwe pressed ahead with a crackdown on shanty-towns that has sparked worldwide condemnation.

Police said crime in the capital Harare had fallen by nearly a fifth since the start of "Operation Restore Order" in early May.

"This shows that the operation, despite being condemned, has started bearing fruit," police spokesman Inspector Whisper Bondai told the official Herald newspaper.

President Robert Mugabe says the operation is necessary to flush out criminals who have turned informal townships into sanctuaries for illegal trading in anything from food to foreign currency.

But critics say the exercise has left tens of thousands homeless or without jobs, piling pressure on Zimbabweans facing 70 per cent unemployment and chronic shortages of foreign currency, fuel and food.

Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said on Wednesday the operation had slashed crime in Harare adding that 42,415 people had been arrested, fined or had their goods seized.

He said 120,000 people were left homeless after their structures were demolished. Aid groups and churches, who have condemned the operation, put the figure at 200,000.

"We observe that crimes such as plain robbery, murder and theft have declined because we have cut the ready market that criminals had for stolen goods," Bvudzijena told Reuters.

The United States, Britain and the European Union, who are critical of Mugabe's rule, have condemned the operation which has prompted the United Nations to send a special envoy to assess the situation.

Police continued the crackdown on Wednesday, shutting down a four-storey building in central Harare which housed a dress-making business, forcing all occupants on to the street with their sewing machines. Police barred journalists from the building and did not give a reason for targeting the business.

On Tuesday, Reuters journalists saw families huddled in the open in the evening after police launched their biggest single operation so far, destroying illegal structures in Chitungwiza, an opposition stronghold south-west of Harare.

Bvudzijena said 2104 people were settled at what the government has labelled a "transit camp" in Caledonia on the outskirts of the city. He said a lack of funds was delaying transfers to proper settlements.

Zimbabwe faces food shortages this year after a severe drought, but authorities in Harare have warned they will enforce a ban on informal cultivation of crops in open areas in the city to prevent environmental degradation.

City councils in previous years have destroyed crops planted in banned areas, but this has not been consistent.

In its monthly update on Zimbabwe, the US-based Famine Early Warning System Network said the crackdown on informal trade had led to serious food supply problems in most urban areas.

"The majority of the affected households lived from hand to mouth and had no accumulated savings to see them through. Consequently, destruction of their business operations means immediate deprivation and destitution," it said.

- REUTERS