Word: shona
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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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...
...months ago, Mugabe's government sent an armed force led by the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade into Matabeleland, the Ndebele homeland in the southwestern part of the country, to crush a 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...
...against the white Rhodesian government and led his country to independence as black-ruled Zimbabwe three years ago. His fortunes have been declining ever since. He lost the presidential elections to Mugabe, largely because his Ndebele tribe is less than a fourth the size of Mugabe's predominant Shona constituency. Nkomo served in Mugabe's Cabinet for 22 months, but was dropped last year amid rumors that his followers were plotting against the government. A week ago, Nkomo was detained while trying to leave Zimbabwe on a trip to Prague, where he was to attend a meeting...
Your article "The Plague of Tribal Enmity" [Jan. 17] focused mainly on the feud between Zimbabwe's Shona and Ndebele tribes, ignoring the other oppressed groups. As a member of a Zimbabwe minority tribe, I deplore the lack of dialogue between the people of my nation. Their refusal to accept religious, linguistic or racial diversity in others is a clear signal of a fatal future...
...latest streak of violence is a disquieting sign that the fragile tribal coalition that turned white-ruled Rhodesia into black-governed Zimbabwe in 1980 is crumbling. On one side are Prime Minister Robert Mugabe and nearly 6 million members of the Shona tribes; opposing them are Joshua Nkomo, the rival nationalist leader, and the 1.5 million-strong Ndebeles. Mugabe supporters blame the holiday terror on diehard members of Nkomo's ZIPRA guerrilla army, which was disbanded after the nation's seven-year civil war had ended. Nkomo stoutly denies any responsibility for the rebel actions, although he does...