News / Regional
MDC-T demands compensation for 1980s army massacre
17 Feb 2015 at 13:52hrs | Views
Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has called for compensation of victims of an army-led 1980s massacre of more than 20,000 civilians in the west of the country.
MDC spokesperson Obert Gutu said Tuesday that the so-called Gukurahundi genocide "cannot and indeed, shouldn't be wished away" and urged the government to holistically address the issue in order to foster lasting peace and tranquillity in Zimbabwe.
"Victims and survivors of the Gukurahundi genocide should be clearly identified and compensated," said Gutu, spokesperson for the main MDC formation led by former premier Morgan Tsvangirai.
Human rights groups have accused President Robert Mugabe, who was then Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, of unleashing the army between 1983 and 1984 into the volatile Matabeleland regions to crash a rebellion.
The North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade allegedly killed an estimated 20,000 civilians and displaced thousands more.
Rights group Genocide Watch in 2010 called on the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to conduct a full investigation of the killings, popularly known as the Gukurahundi massacres.
Gutu said there was "a compelling need for a wholesale counselling programme to be instituted for both the survivors and the known perpetrators of the heinous Gukurahundi genocide."
He criticised recent remarks by Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko that the Gukurahundi massacres were a conspiracy by the West as "in extreme bad taste, insensitive and grossly offensive to both the victims and survivors of this genocide."
MDC spokesperson Obert Gutu said Tuesday that the so-called Gukurahundi genocide "cannot and indeed, shouldn't be wished away" and urged the government to holistically address the issue in order to foster lasting peace and tranquillity in Zimbabwe.
"Victims and survivors of the Gukurahundi genocide should be clearly identified and compensated," said Gutu, spokesperson for the main MDC formation led by former premier Morgan Tsvangirai.
Human rights groups have accused President Robert Mugabe, who was then Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, of unleashing the army between 1983 and 1984 into the volatile Matabeleland regions to crash a rebellion.
Rights group Genocide Watch in 2010 called on the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to conduct a full investigation of the killings, popularly known as the Gukurahundi massacres.
Gutu said there was "a compelling need for a wholesale counselling programme to be instituted for both the survivors and the known perpetrators of the heinous Gukurahundi genocide."
He criticised recent remarks by Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko that the Gukurahundi massacres were a conspiracy by the West as "in extreme bad taste, insensitive and grossly offensive to both the victims and survivors of this genocide."
Source - APA
