New Zimbabwe fears for deportees

Moyo: Zimbabwe has a right to ask who the returnees are

Fears for the safety of Zimbabweans sent back home from the UK have risen after a minister said they could be undercover mercenaries.

Controversial Information Minister Jonathan Moyo said the UK could be sending "trained and bribed malcontents" to disrupt elections.

The UK says it will resume the repatriation of Zimbabweans who were refused political asylum.

Refugee groups say anyone deported to Zimbabwe could face persecution.

Earlier this week, another Zimbabwe minister said those sent back from the UK would be welcomed back.

Regime change

The UK authorities said they were lifting a two-year moratorium on deportations because of the numerous abuses of the asylum system by people claiming to have been persecuted by the government of President Robert Mugabe.

Many opposition activists, and even MPs, say they have been tortured for criticising the government.

The opposition complains of widespread intimidation and torture

"We have a right to ask whether these would be deportees or [UK Prime Minister Tony] Blair's mercenaries of regime change or plain law-abiding Zimbabweans returning home after having been abused and dehumanised in Britain.

"Their treatment will depend on which is which," Mr Moyo said according to the state-owned Herald newspaper.

On Wednesday, Zimbabwe's Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said his government would unconditionally accept anyone sent back from the UK. He said that the deportations backed up the government's argument that the opposition is exaggerating claims of human rights abuses.

"The chickens are now coming home to roost. It's wrong to suggest that they went there as victims of torture, but the truth is that they were economic refugees," Mr Chinamasa said.

'Not safe'

However, Zimbabwean refugees who protested at Downing Street on Wednesday say that anyone sent back home from Britain faces reprisals from security forces.

"Britain knows the problems in Zimbabwe. They know it's not safe for those who oppose Mugabe and the government," Edward Molife, one of the organizers, told the BBC.

BBC Africa analyst Grant Ferrett says that about 10 Zimbabweans are thought to have been deported from Britain since the government changed its policy last month, although the Home Office has refused to give figures.

Mr Mugabe, the sole ruler of the country since it became independent from Britain in 1980, is accused by his critics of rigging elections and using violence against his political opponents.

Mr Mugabe denies these charges, saying that his enemies, sponsored by the UK, the former colonial power, are trying to oust him because of his programme to redistribute land from white farmers to poor black families.