Word: nkomo
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...principal characters in the drama were Prime Minister Robert Mugabe and Opposition Leader Joshua Nkomo. The two men had been comrades-in-arms in the seven-year guerrilla war against the white Rhodesian regime of Ian Smith. The partnership continued even after Mugabe, whose Shona tribal constituency makes up almost 80% of the country's population, won the preindependence elections in 1980. But it ended abruptly a year ago after the government discovered arms caches on property belonging to several of Nkomo's political allies. The government charged Nkomo's Ndebele tribesmen, who constitute about...
...rising tide of resistance and lawlessness. The soldiers, most of whom are Shona tribesmen, killed hundreds of Ndebele civilians. Two weeks ago, the Fifth Brigade moved into the suburbs of Bulawayo, the main city in Matabeleland, and conducted house-to-house searches for dissidents. The soldiers even invaded Nkomo's home, where they killed an employee and ransacked the property. That night Nkomo, who had gone into hiding before the army arrived, told reporters that the Mugabe government was trying to kill him and wipe out his party, the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU). Nkomo, who last...
Three days later, however, Nkomo fled. After an all-night drive in a Land Rover along bush roads, he reached the border of Botswana, where he sought temporary refuge. At week's end, Nkomo flew by private chartered aircraft to Johannesburg, where he boarded a British Airways flight to London. There was no way of telling whether his exile would prove to be temporary or permanent. In Zimbabwe, the government detained his wife and three other members of his family. Later, authorities announced that Nkomo's wife had been released on unspecified "humanitarian grounds," although the other family...
...real reason for Nkomo's detention was that Zimbabwe is veering closer to open warfare, at least in Matabeleland, where the government is conducting a savage military campaign against Ndebele guerrillas loyal to Nkomo. Led by the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade, government troops have reportedly killed hundreds of villagers over the past few weeks. Says Minister of State for Defense Sydney Sekeramayi: "The brigade will stay put until the dissident problem is settled...
While Mugabe continues to call for reconciliation, there are rumors that Nkomo may yet be charged with subversion or even treason. Nkomo says, a bit disingenuously, "I am only trying to protect my people and therefore do good for my country." The sharp-tongued Eddison Zvobgo, a minister in the Mugabe government, says Nkomo's real trouble is that he suffers from "power-denial psychosis." An Ndebele proverb puts it another way: "The beast is without power." Against the strong political base of Mugabe and the might of his army, Nkomo has little leverage except perhaps the capacity...