Zimbabwe-16,000 Hit In Mines Clearout

ZIMBABWE

16,000 Hit in Mines Clearout

Daily Record (UK)

January 3 2007

MORE than 16,000 people were arrested in Zimbabwe yesterday in a controversial blitz on the poor by president Robert Mugabe.

Their homes were razed after a so-called crackdown on illegal mining.

The slum clearance, officially called Operation Restore Order, was ordered to root out crime.

But United Nations officials said it would dramatically worsen the country's economic crisis.

So far, more than three million people have been made homeless or had their livelihoods destroyed.

Police burned temporary homes used by panners near the mining fields and recovered gold and diamonds.

Police commissioner Augustine Chihuri said: "A few greedy fat cats have monopolised the industry and engaged every other person in the villages, farms and elsewhere to recklessly pan for gold and other precious minerals."