UN to check on Mugabe's slums blitz

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe's government was making desperate attempts to paint a massive blitz on shacks in a positive light yesterday as a United Nations envoy arrived in Zimbabwe.

Anna Tibaijuka, the head of UN housing agency Habitat and the world body's most senior African woman, was due to hold talks with the Zimbabwean president today on Operation Clear Out Trash, which has made at least 300,000 people homeless in five weeks.

Ms Tibaijuka and her eight-member team will also meet officials from the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), who claim the operation is a well-planned attack on its supporters.

Yesterday the Zimbabwean government changed the name of the campaign to Operation Let Us Be Settled and Prosper, according to the state-run Sunday Mail newspaper.

Mr Mugabe has fiercely resisted "racist" criticism of the operation, which began in May.

He says it is an attempt to weed out "crime and grime" from Zimbabwe's cities.

And after initial reluctance, he now claims to welcome Ms Tibaijuka's visit.

"I have agreed to receive the UN secretary-general's special envoy in the country so as to enable the secretary-general to understand and appreciate what we are trying to do for our people who deserve much better than the shacks that are now being romanticised as fitting habitats for them," he said.

Mr Mugabe says the shacks will be replaced by modern houses, although it is not clear how the thousands of homeless people will be able to pay for the new homes.

The army and members of the notorious National Youth Service are to be co-opted into building brigades, according to reports.

Churches across the country defied Mr Mugabe's secret police yesterday as they held special prayers for the displaced.

At least six people are believed to have died as a result of Operation Clear Out Trash, including two young children who were crushed by falling rubble.

The opposition appeared to be less than confident that Ms Tibaijuka, whose special interest is slum improvement, would be willing to criticise the Zimbabwean authorities.

Paul Themba Nyathi, an MDC spokesman, said yesterday: "Even if the UN sends its envoy and the envoy says things are fine in Zimbabwe, still people will continue to suffer."