11/19/02 8:18:20 AM (GMT +2)

By Luke Tamborinyoka Political Editor

BARELY a week after the Zimbabwean police shot dead an American citizen in Mutare, the United States embassy in Harare yesterday revealed that so-called war veterans had beaten up their staff in Melfort going about their normal diplomatic work.

The US government immediately expressed concern over the incident and urged the authorities in Harare to identify and arrest the perpetrators.

The US embassy said, in a statement on Friday, that two of its employees, accompanied by a United Nations officer and a Zimbabwean citizen, were detained and subjected to hostile interrogation by a group of men who identified themselves as war veterans.

The embassy said in its statement that one of their employees, a Zimbabwean citizen, and another Zimbabwean were beaten up and some personal and official items were stolen in the attack.

“The assault took place near Melfort as the embassy employees were conducting a survey of displaced farm workers in order to assess the needs for humanitarian food assistance in Zimbabwe,” the embassy said.

Visits by staff are part of the normal work of embassy personnel in fulfilment of their diplomatic and humanitarian mission. The assault allegedly took place at a site where former commercial farm workers were subsisting on a diet of berries and termites.

“The United States government is deeply concerned by this incident. It is symptomatic of the lawlessness that has affected Zimbabwe for the past two years. It is the same sort of intimidation and violence suffered by thousands of Zimbabweans since the rule of law was effectively suspended,” the embassy said.

“The US government has protested the incident to the government of Zimbabwe and called for swift action to identify and arrest the perpetrators. We call once again on the government of Zimbabwe to restore the rule of law and respect for human rights.”

A visiting American citizen, Richard Gilman, was shot dead by the police in Mutare last week on Monday. They alleged he was trying to flee in his vehicle from a roadblock.

His brother, Howard, a resident of Zimbabwe, denied the allegation, saying Richard could not have attempted to flee from the police when he had in fact returned to the roadblock after collecting from his brother’s home some documents he had been asked to produce at the roadblock.

Richard was involved in charity work in Manicaland. The US government has since called for a full investigation into his death.

-- Anonymous, November 19, 2002