UN to probe Zimbabwe demolitions

The UN says 200,000 have been left homeless

The United Nations is to send a special envoy to Zimbabwe to investigate the recent destruction of illegal homes and the eviction of traders.

A UN spokesman said President Robert Mugabe had agreed to the visit.

The UN says some 200,000 people have lost their homes in the past month, in a police operation that the government says is meant to restore order.

On Monday, vehicle confiscations and fuel shortages left thousands of commuters stranded.

Investigation

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, said Mr Annan had appointed Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, the Executive Director of UN-Habitat as his Special Envoy for Human Settlement Issues in Zimbabwe.

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"President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has agreed that the special envoy of the secretary general should visit the country as soon as possible to study the scope of the recent eviction of illegal dwellers, informal traders and squatters, and the humanitarian impact it has had on the affected population," Mr Dujarric said in a statement. He said Ms Tibaijuka would visit Zimbabwe "shortly", and would prepare a "thorough report" on the situation.

United States State Department deputy spokesperson Adam Ereli described the crackdown as a "tragedy, crime, horror - that the government of Zimbabwe is perpetrating on its people".

Transport hit

Last week, police impounded hundreds of illegal vehicles. This move, together with ongoing fuel shortages caused by a foreign exchange crisis, left thousands of commuters without transport.

The government-run newspaper The Herald reported that most fuel stations had run out of petrol and diesel.

Mr Mugabe says the blitz on illegal houses, traders and vehicles is needed to "restore sanity" in urban areas overrun with criminals.

The opposition says Operation Murambatsvina [Drive out rubbish] is intended to punish urban voters who rejected President Robert Mugabe in March polls.

Many people are living on the streets, while other have returned to their rural homes, encouraged by the government.

Officials also want to stamp out the black market, which they blame for Zimbabwe's economic meltdown.

Police have extended the crackdown on illegal structures to the rich northern suburbs of the capital, Harare, and to destroying city vegetable gardens on waste land.

A Catholic priest told AP news agency that people would never forget the destruction of their food which was "insane and evil". The blitz comes as the country urgently needs to import 1.2 million metric tons of food to avoid famine

"It is a watershed, it is the beginning of the end, but the end will be terrible," he said.