President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Wednesday called for calm as police fired live rounds, water cannon and teargas in Harare at crowds protesting alleged fraud in Zimbabwe’s elections. At least three people were killed in the unrest, police said. “At this crucial time, I call on everyone to desist from provocative declarations and statements,” Mnangagwa said on Twitter. “Now is the time for responsibility and above all, peace.”

Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi also appealed for calm and said the army was deployed on the streets to restore “peace and tranquility”.

“The presence of the army is not to intimidate people but to ensure that law and order is maintained. They are there to assist the police,” Ziyambi said in an interview broadcast on eNCA television. “They are there as a people’s army to ensure that peace and security prevails.” Zimbabwe police on Wednesday fired live rounds, water cannon and teargas at opposition supporters in Harare as tensions erupted over alleged fraud in the election.

Officers had been facing off through a locked gate against crowds who brandished opposition party banners and chanted slogans against the ruling ZANU-PF party. Protesters burned cars and threw rocks as helicopters hovered above.

“You said you were better than Mugabe – you are the picture of Mugabe,” shouted one young male protester wearing a white T-shirt. “We need security for the people.”

European Union election observers had earlier criticised the elections, the first since long-time ruler Robert Mugabe stepped down in November, for being held on an “un-level playing field”.

Opposition leader Nelson Chamisa’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has accused President Mnangagwa’s ZANU-PF party and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission of using underhand tactics to steal the election from them.

An angry crowd of mostly young men, some of whom covered their faces, whistled and chanted “Chamisa, Chamisa” in downtown Harare.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission showed Mnangagwa’s ZANU-PF cruising to a big majority after picking up 109 seats against 41 for the opposition MDC. Another 58 seats are yet to be declared.

The MDC won in most urban centres, where it enjoys majority support. The party accused the election commission on Tuesday of deliberately delaying results of this week’s vote to favour the ruling party, reporting irregularities in the first poll since the removal of Robert Mugabe in a bloodless November coup.

Mnangagwa said the violence was meant to disrupt the election and blamed the MDC leadership.

“We hold the opposition MDC Alliance and its whole leadership responsible for this disturbance of national peace, which was meant to disrupt the electoral process,” Mnangagwa said, according to ZBC.

In a late-night press conference, Home Affairs Minister Obert Mpofu warned that the government “will not tolerate any of the actions that were witnessed today”.

“The opposition … have perhaps interpreted our understanding to be weak, and I think they are testing our resolve and I think they are making a big mistake,” he said.

Chamisa’s spokesman, Nkululeko Sibanda, told reporters the army’s reaction was unjustified: “Today we saw the deployment of military tanks and firing of live ammunition on civilians for no apparent reason.”

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called on Zimbabwe’s political leaders and people to exercise restraint and reject any form of violence.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and REUTERS)

At least one person has been killed in Zimbabwe’s capital when security forces fired on opposition supporters protesting against what they say was electoral fraud.

Media reports said the protester was shot dead near a bus rank in Harare on Wednesday as soldiers stepped in to disperse stone-throwing supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Witnesses said the man was shot in the stomach and lay in a pool of his own blood that seeped onto the dusty tarmac.

The protest descended into chaos after security forces opened fire, sprayed tear gas and unleashed water cannon. Some soldiers beat fleeing protesters with their assault rifles.

Protesters are angry at a delay in announcing the results of the presidential election.

Dozens of soldiers fanned out across central Harare as armored personnel carriers with roof-mounted machine guns sped through the streets.

The opposition accuses President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his ruling ZANU-PF party of stalling so it can steal the landmark election.

The growing crowd of protesters lit fires and chanted “Chamisa,” referring to MDC leader and presidential hopeful Nelson Chamisa.

It had been hoped that the first election following former President Robert Mugabe’s removal after a brief army takeover led by former army chief Constantino Chiwenga would turn the page for the country. “You said you were better than Mugabe, you are the picture of Mugabe,” shouted one young protester. “We need security for the people.”

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on Zimbabwe’s political leaders and people “to exercise restraint and reject any form of violence while awaiting resolution of the disputes and announcement of the election results.”

“We are concerned about the reports that there have been incidences of violence in parts of Zimbabwe,” UN spokesman Farhan Haq said. “We’d like to remind the incumbents and the political parties of the commitments they made, the peace pledge and the code of conduct to ensure a peaceful electoral process.”

Millions of people voted peacefully in the Monday election, the first ever vote without Mugabe in almost 40 years in Zimbabwe.

Mugabe’s 37-year rule came to an end last November after the military took over the capital and the state broadcaster and held Mugabe and his wife under house arrest in a bloodless coup.

Source: Presstv

Zimbabwe’s ruling party ZANU-PF has won the majority of seats in parliamentary elections, official results show, as vote counting continues separately in the presidential vote.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) said on Wednesday that ZANU-PF had picked up 110 seats against the 41 for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Another 58 seats are yet to be declared.

The final results of the presidential poll are expected by Saturday.

ZANU-PF, which ousted former president Robert Mugabe after 37 years last November, would need an additional 30 seats to have a two-thirds majority, which would allow it to change the constitution at will.

Opposition candidate Nelson Chamisa, who leads the MDC, has accused the electoral commission of delaying presidential results to favor the ruling party, led by his rival, President Emmerson Dambudz Mnangagwa.

He accused the commission of releasing the parliamentary results first to prepare people for a Mnangagwa victory.

“The strategy is meant to prepare Zimbabwe mentally to accept fake presidential results. We’ve more votes than ED (Emmerson Dambudzo),” he said in a Twitter message. “We won the popular vote (and) will defend it.”

His supporters took to the streets on Tuesday, protesting the delay in the results. Crowds also gathered outside the MDC Alliance headquarters in the capital, Harare, celebrating what they believed to be Chamisa’s victory.

The gathering was followed by the deployment of a truckload of policemen and water cannon to the area.

Allegations of fraud risk plunging the country into violence.

Millions of people voted peacefully in the Monday election, the first-ever vote without Mugabe in almost 40 years in Zimbabwe.

His 37-year old ruling came to an end last November after Zimbabwe’s military took over the capital and the state broadcaster and held Mugabe and his wife under house arrest in a bloodless coup d’état.

Source: Presstv

More than two years ago, troops loyal to the Biya regime in Yaoundé launched a violent attack against the people of Southern Cameroons after the Anglophone leadership created the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. The Francophone dominated army killed hundreds, if not thousands of women and children. The Ambazonian justice department continues to discover mass graves in Mamfe, Dadi, Belo, Ekondo Titi, Menka Piyin, Kwa Kwa, Muyenge, Batibo, Wum, Bali, Azi, Alou and Tombel to this day. As part of the same French Cameroun military campaign, Cameroon government troops raped and killed women and girls. More than 3,000 Southern Cameroonians are still being detained in French Cameroun and their fate is unknown.

The Southern Cameroons Interim Government has ordered an investigation that might lead Ambazonians to detain relatives in French Cameroun.  For more than two years running, 98% of Southern Cameroons territories previously held by the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime have been recovered by Ambazonia Restoration Forces.  French Cameroun authority is disappearing from Southern Cameroons and the atrocities committed by the Biya regime forces are now on the spotlight.

The African Union and the UN have failed to realize that the Southern Cameroons story is not over, and by so doing they are providing a fertile ground for similar atrocities to happen again in Ambazonia. Truth be told to power, Biya and his army including his gang of political elites have been defeated in Southern Cameroons, but the French ideology that governs French Cameroun is what is driving the violence.

After the attack and destruction of Kendem, Kembong, Kwa Kwa, Muyenge, Belo, Menka Pinyi, Bekora, Mbonge and the killing of several Roman Catholic clergies, Cameroon government forces also attacked Wum, Bui, Ndop, Kumba, Muyuka, Ekona, Azi and forced over 160,000 people to flee for their lives.  They destroyed the villages and took control of it. It has now been liberated.

The Biya regime has attempted to deceive the international community with a humanitarian plan that promised to do more, to help victims of the Southern Cameroons war. But as I write, Yaoundé is instead ensuring that none of its soldiers is brought to justice and that such mass atrocities continue to happen. Three years running, the world has not made good on any of its international obligations to the people of former British Southern Cameroons.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai