Zimbabwe says UK deportees 'mercenaries of regime change'

Zimbabwe says UK deportees 'mercenaries of regime change'

MOYO: "We have a right to ask whether these would be deportees or Blair’s mercenaries of regime change"

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By Staff Reporter

FRESH fears for the safety of Zimbabweans deported from Britain were raised Friday after a top government minister said they could be undercover mercenaries sent to cause mayhem ahead of key parliamentary elections next March.

Controversial Information Minister Jonathan Moyo said Britain could be sending "trained and bribed malcontents" to disrupt elections.

The UK has resumed the repatriation of Zimbabweans who were refused political asylum.

Refugee groups say anyone deported to Zimbabwe could face persecution and this week, Zimbabwean lawyers in the UK filed papers to secure an injuction stopping the deportations following complaints that several deportees had been harassed or were missing after they were deported.

Moyo's comments will harden the growing anti-deportation coalition and apply pressure on UK authorities to once again suspend the deportations.

"We have a right to ask whether these would be deportees or Blair’s mercenaries of regime change or plain law-abiding Zimbabweans returning home after having been abused and dehumanised in Britain.

"Their treatment will depend on which is which," Moyo told the state-run Herald newspaper.

Earlier this week, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said those sent back from the UK would be welcomed back.

The UK authorities said they were lifting a two-year moratorium on deportations because of the numerous abuses of the asylum system by people claiming to have been persecuted by the government of President Robert Mugabe.

Zimbabwean refugees who protested at Downing Street on Wednesday say that anyone sent back home from Britain faces reprisals from security forces.

"Britain knows the problems in Zimbabwe. They know it's not safe for those who oppose Mugabe and the government," Edward Molife, one of the organizers, told the BBC.
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