HUNDREDS OF unarmed soldiers engaged in looting and clashed with riot police in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, for the second time in a week on Monday after becoming frustrated with the city's banks over unpaid wages, writes BILL CORCORANin Cape Town
Angry soldiers looted shops and attacked money-changers operating in the black market, stealing their cash after banks refused to let them draw down most of their monthly wages, according to Associated Press reporters who witnessed the chaos.
The country's banking system only allows customers to withdraw Zim$500 (less than a euro) per day, due to the country's dire financial situation and a lack of hard cash, which makes it impossible for the majority of people to survive.
One civilian was shot and dozens of soldiers were arrested by the armed police, in what was just one of a number of recent episodes that highlight the country's deepening economic crisis and descent into ruin.
The army played down the violence saying it was carried out by a "small number of indisciplined soldiers", but opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai warned the country had completely collapsed and called on the African Union to intervene.
"The country is reaching a catastrophic level, in terms of food, health delivery, education. Everything seems to be collapsing around us," he said.
Zimbabwe has come to a virtual standstill since last September because the country's rival political parties cannot agree on the details of a powersharing deal that paves the way for a new inclusive government. In the ensuing political vacuum the economy has collapsed, as have local government and health services, which has led to the outbreak of numerous diseases, including a cholera epidemic that has claimed the lives of over 500 people to date.
On Monday, Harare's two million residents were left without water because the government-run Zimbabwe National Water Authority ran out of purification chemicals and was forced to stop pumping into the city's water reticulation system.
Nearly 500 people have now died of cholera in the country, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said yesterday."Cholera outbreaks in Zimbabwe have occurred annually since 1998, but previous epidemics never reached today's proportions. The last large outbreak was in 1992 with 3,000 cases recorded," the WHO said in a report. Zimbabwean rights groups estimate that up to 1,000 people have died from the disease.
"I'm shocked at the deteriorating humanitarian crisis," said EU development commissioner Louis Michel, urging the government to allow full assistance in from abroad. - (additional reporting: Reuters)