A hit squad has murdered another white farmer, Mr Alan Dunn, in Zimbabwe. Six men dragged him from his home on his farm near Beatrice, 35 miles south of Harare, on Sunday and bludgeoned him with concrete blocks and bricks. In less than 10 minutes Mr Dunn was unconscious in a pool of blood with a fractured skull, two broken arms and internal injuries. He died early yesterday. The political killing provides fresh evidence that President Robert Mugabe is maintaining a campaign of state-sponsored violence against opposition supporters.
Mr Dunn's death brings to 19 the number of backers of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) killed by Mr Mugabe's supporters since April 1st. The dead include white farmers, black farm labourers, city residents and peasants.
The MDC poses the most serious challenge to Mr Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party in 20 years.
The MDC stated that a dozen serious assaults on its members had been reported in the last 24 hours. The party accuses Mr Mugabe's ruling party of trying to intimidate voters before parliamentary elections due by August.
"What is unfolding in Zimbabwe is an orchestrated campaign of violence," said the MDC legal officer, Mr David Coltart. "I have no doubt that this campaign is orchestrated from the office of the President."
Mr Dunn was a local MDC official, as well as a leading farmer and employer in the Beatrice area. After receiving death threats he left his farm two weeks ago. He returned over the weekend to pay his workers and to allow his three teenage daughters to pack their belongings for the start of a new school term.
"It is all aimed at intimidating the opposition. It is part of a terror campaign that has been going on for the last three months," the MDC leader, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, said when he heard of the murder yesterday.
One Zimbabwean unmoved by Mr Dunn's murder was Mr Chenjerai "Hitler" Hunzvi, leader of the veterans of the 1970s war against Rhodesia. "There is nothing to say. He is dead," said a stony Mr Hunzvi.
On Sunday, Mr Hunzvi told journalists that all the British passport holders in Zimbabwe, estimated at 20,000, must leave the country. "This is not Zimbabwe/Britain. This is Zimbabwe on its own. We are now going to search for those people with British passports [and tell them] to leave our country," said Mr Hunzvi.
"They are not Zimbabweans and they are the ones who are causing lots of problems as far as we are concerned. They should know that they are foreigners, outlanders, aliens, whatever," he said. "They can leave by the airport or they can leave by the ground."
The British government responded yesterday to Mr Dunn's killing and Mr Hunzvi's statements. "We're very disturbed by the recent escalation of violence over the weekend and by the inflammatory rhetoric," the Foreign Office said.
In Washington, President Clinton said he hoped the violence would ease before it threatens South Africa and other nearby countries.
Mr Tendai Mahoso, one of Mr Dunn's employees, did not share Mr Hunzvi's view that British or whites should leave the country. "Mr Dunn was one of those white people who helped us," said Mr Mahoso.
Irish Times reporters add:
There are an estimated 2,000 Irish passport holders resident in Zimbabwe, according to records in the Irish embassy in South Africa. "Very few" are farmers, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Although Ireland does not have a resident mission in Zimbabwe, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, has instructed that an officer of the embassy in South Africa, which is accredited to Zimbabwe, remain in Harare to provide consular protection for the Irish community.
The Irish ambassador, Mr Hugh Swift, has been in constant contact with members of the Irish community there, and has liaised with EU officials about possible contingency plans for Irish passport holders. Mr Cowen said last month all possible steps would be taken to ensure the safety of Irish citizens.