Mugabe: Madness of Matabele deaths

Last year the president stopped short of a full apology

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has admitted that the killings and atrocities that took place in Matabeleland in the 1980s were "reckless and unprincipled".

It was an act of madness, we killed each other and destroyed each other's property, it was wrong and both sides were to blame

Robert Mugabe

Speaking at a memorial service for former vice-president Joshua Nkomo in Bulawayo, Mr Mugabe described the killings as "madness".

"It was an act of madness, we killed each other and destroyed each other's property.

"It was wrong and both sides were to blame," he said.

It is the first anniversary of Nkomo's death

Mr Mugabe's comments come after his Zanu-PF party's poor showing in Matabeleland in last weekend's general elections.

Following independence from Britain in 1980, government-sponsored military units, described by human rights groups as "death squads", killed thousands of dissidents in the province.

The dissidents were accused of mounting an uprising against the government.

Regret but no apology

President Mugabe stopped short of an apology for the deaths in Matabeleland at Mr Nkomo's funeral a year ago.

"The conflict which took place caused great suffering among innocent people, we regret that, but these conflicts always do that," he said at the time.

Nkomo and Mugabe fell out after the Lancaster House accord

Joshua Nkomo who died on July 1 1999, aged 83, after a long battle with prostate cancer, was the leader of the minority Ndebele ethnic group.

A small group of guerrillas in Mr Nkomo's native province of Matabeleland became active but were quashed by government troops.

Mr Nkomo fled to neighbouring Botswana. He later returned to the country to start peace negotiations and in December 1987 signed a unity accord.

Zanu-PF won just two of the 23 seats in the province in last week's elections, with the rest going to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.