Mugabe gives police licence to kill

Police officers throughout Zimbabwe have now been authorised to use firearms against civilians whenever violence erupts on the streets.

They have been told that if they shoot a civilian dead they will not face a murder charge. A source at Harare central police headquarters confirmed today that this decision was taken on Monday morning at a regular briefing meeting.

On Monday afternoon the instruction was radioed to police stations throughout the country. Each police officer is to have a daily allocation of five rounds of ammunition, and stocks are sufficient for the entire Zimbabwe force.

"Authorities fear that if the police do not adopt a hard stance against the growing number of violent activities, the situation might get out of hand," said the source.

He referred to the petrol bombing last week of a crowded passenger train from Harare to Bulawayo, when fortunately only five people were injured. "They anticipate further violence after the lifting of bans on political rallies and the impending strike called by the trade unions in early April," he said.

The move to arm all police, even those with no training in weaponry and its use, is thought also to have come after a March 12 memo to the Zimbabwean government from Police Chief Augustine Chihuri. In the memo - reported in this column on March 21 - Chihuri said he needed to spend Z$5 trillion (£125m) to get his force up to strength, re-trained and re-equipped. It is not known whether he has yet sourced all or part of that money. But the Central Bank of Zimbabwe has a simple method to finance projects which are deemed urgent. It just prints the money.

~There will be a news conference very very soon where the following will speak out against the oppression of blacks in Zimbabwe:

Harry Belafonte, John Conyers, Charles Rangel, Sheila Jackson Lee, William J. Jefferson, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Barbara Lee, Barack Obama, Maxine Waters, Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. and Alcee L. Hastings.

All will speak out against this horrid civil rights travesty and demand that Mugabe step down and that the US do something about it, including boycotting companies that do business in South Afri...er...Zimbabwe.

Later, pigs will fly.