The Zimbabwe government used violence and restricted humanitarian aid to force about 20 000 flood victims to resettle on tiny plots earmarked for a sugar cane plantation, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The one-hectare plots are on a farm that has close links to President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party, the rights group said in a 57-page report.<\/p>\n
Under the government’s plans, the flood victims are required to grow sugar cane on Nuanetsi Ranch in the southeastern Masvingo province to contribute to a government-owned ethanol project.<\/p>\n
“The Zimbabwean government has stopped at nothing to coerce 20 000 flood victims to accept a resettlement package that provides labour for a government project, but leaves the flood victims utterly destitute,” HRW’s Dewa Mavhinga.<\/p>\n
“The Zimbabwean government should immediately give the victims adequate aid without conditions and compensate them fairly for their losses.”<\/p>\n
Mavhinga told a news conference that the villagers were displaced from their homes a year ago when floods hit the Tokwe-Mukorsi dam construction area, in Masvingo province.<\/p>\n
Mugabe declared the floods a national disaster and appealed for $20m from donor agencies to assist in relocating the villagers.<\/p>\n
Despite promises of compensation and new houses for the displaced villagers, nothing has been done, HRW said.<\/p>\n
“They [the villagers] do not have access to adequate food, shelter, sanitation and potable water,” Mavhinga said, adding that the villagers were living in tents…<\/p>\n