Tsvangirai anger over army attacks on supporters

Zimbabwe's prime minister has accused the military of deploying to villages to attack civilians who back him against president Robert Mugabe.

"They should be at the epicentre of defending the people and not attacking and brutalising them," prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai said yesterday of the military in a nationwide message on the eve of a two-day public holiday marking the guerrilla war that led to independence in 1980.

Mr Tsvangirai urged the military to "leave politics to the politicians," and said the symbolic Heroes Day and Armed Forces Day holiday needed to be a reminder of the impartiality demanded of police and the army in the constitution.

Military commanders loyal to President Mugabe have refused to salute Mr Tsvangirai, a former union leader who did not fight in the guerrilla war that ended British colonial rule.

This is held against him by the Mugabe clique who still control most of the levers of power in the country. Anti-colonialist rhetoric remains a key part of Mr Mugabe's speeches, and sanctions imposed by the EU and US against his immediate circle are cited as the cause of the country's woes.

They also accuse Mr Tsvangirai of being a security threat because of his pro-Western links. One general in the military command has spoken out against Mr Tsvangirai and vowed the military will not recognise him as the country's leader if he defeats Mr Mugabe in elections.

"Tsvangirai doesn't pose a political threat in any way in Zimbabwe, but is a major security threat. He takes instructions from foreigners who seek to effect regime change in Zimbabwe," Brigadier General Douglas Nyikayaramba told the official Herald newspaper in June.

"We naturally take umbrage at the militarisation of our politics and the politicisation of the military," Mr Tsvangirai said in his speech yesterday.

Rights groups blame police and troops for much of the state-orchestrated violence surrounding election campaigning since Mr Tsvangirai founded his Movement for Democratic Change a decade ago as the first major challenge to Mr Mugabe's party. Military officers have also been drafted in to posts in electoral and other state bodies.

The prime minister's party has called for reforms in what it calls "the security sector" under the power-sharing agreement that followed disputed and bloody elections in 2008. It has demanded "securocrats" return to their barracks, but Mr Mugabe has refused to allow regional mediators to investigate the party's complaints against the police and army.Today honours fallen guerrillas in the seven-year bush war that swept Mr Mugabe to power as well as political leaders of his party buried at Heroes Acre, a shrine in western Harare. Tuesday's holiday is celebrated with military parades.

Mr Tsvangirai said troops deployed in villages across the country had a national duty to be disciplined and non-partisan.

He said MPs and ordinary Zimbabweans were assaulted, arrested and even killed for supporting his party.

"We must think long and hard whether this can be the legacy of true national heroes" who freed the nation from colonial-era domination, he said.