The leader of the main Zimbabwean opposition part, Morgan Tsvangirai, has demanded that President Robert Mugabe put a stop to widespread violence ahead of presidential elections on March.
Tsvangirai, head of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), told a party rally that elements close to Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party as well as some police officials had deliberately targeted Mugabe's opponents.
Tsvangirai poses the main threat to Mugabe's attempts to prolong his 22-year long rule.
The MDC says that more than 100 of its supporters have been killed during a violent two-year campaign which began with the invasion of white-owned farms in February 2000. The farm seizures were led by veterans of the liberation war, in support of Mugabe's drive to redistribute the farms among landless blacks.
Tsvangirai told Saturday's Gweru rally that, if elected president, he would set up a Truth and Justice Commission to allow perpetrators of the violence to come clean on their activities as part of a national healing process. "We want peace in this country and we want national healing", Tsvangirai said.
The veteran leader, who turns 78 later this month, denies responsibility for bringing a once-vibrant national economy to its knees, and claims it has been sabotaged by his enemies.
The Zimbabwe Human Rights Non-Governmental Organisations Forum said this week that 16 politically motivated murders had been recorded in January, the highest monthly toll since it began logging incidents two years ago. It said 13 of the dead were MDC members.
Rights groups warned of a climate of fear and terror ahead of the presidential polls. Three MDC parliamentarians said they had been arrested and beaten by police on Wednesday.
Mugabe has said he will allow foreign observers to the elections, but will not admit members from Britain, which he accuses of backing the opposition.