Zimbabwe army general attacks MDC

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By Staff Reporter

A SENIOR Zimbabwean army general has warned soldiers against supporting the main opposition, branding it an enemy of the country, state television said.

Political analysts say Zimbabwe's military brass is fiercely loyal to the governing ZANU-PF party and Robert Mugabe, who co-led the country's liberation war in the 1970s and has ruled as president since independence from Britain in 1980.

On Monday the television said Major-General Martin Chedondo "issued a warning" at an army passout parade in the central town of Gweru, that supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would not be tolerated in military ranks.

The station reported: "In a no-holds-barred off-the-cuff speech ... Major-General Martin Chedondo said it was the duty of every soldier to know the country's enemies and to protect it from them."

It said the general branded the MDC was an enemy of the people and the state, and said supporters of the MDC would not be tolerated in the Zimbabwe National Army.

Zimbabwe's state television did not say what had prompted the comment, but it showed a clip in which Chedondo said: "If there is any among you who are supporters or have any sympathy for the MDC, then the military is not your place."

Although the army officially says it is non-partisan, critics say Mugabe, 81, has turned the army into a private ZANU-PF defence institution in the face of a deepening economic crisis and growing opposition in the southern African country.

On the eve of presidential elections in 2002 - which the opposition says Mugabe rigged - Zimbabwe's army and security commanders said in a strong but indirect statement that they would not tolerate a win by Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the MDC - Reuters
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