MARONDERA - Zanu (PF) has launched Operation Chimumumu - a nationwide campaign aimed at eliminating MDC officials and activists and some staff of targeted NGOs - in a desperate attempt to force MDC President, Morgan Tsvangirai, into a marriage of inconvenience.
The MDC has continued to resist being pressurized into the formation of an inclusive government in which Robert Mugabe continues to wield all the power - in contravention of the letter and spirit of the agreement signed in Harare on September 29.
Thirty armed men are reportedly being accommodated at a house owned by a senior Zanu (PF) politburo member in Winston Park, Marondera. The gunmen are allegedly dressed in riot gear and have been arresting locals before whisking them away to killing zones.
Mugabe and his military junta continue to thwart the legitimate power-sharing demands of the MDC - with the connivance of former South Africa president, Thabo Mbeki, and other undemocratic regional leaders.
The operation has already commenced with about 30 MDC supporters and two journalists having been abducted by armed men, carrying AK47's, driving un-marked cars. All attempts by lawyers and the courts to force the government to bring the abductees to court and to allow access to lawyers, families and doctors, have been ignored by the Mugabe regime.
X head Mobilising troops
In an attempt to divert attention from Operation Chimumumu, Mugabe's junta is reportedly mobilising troops to repel a looming British invasion, while at the same time sabre rattling against Botswana for allegedly training MDC guerillas.
Highly-placed sources have revealed that the security forces have been put on high alert. Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) sources said Zambia would also soon be accused of providing launch-pads for the British attack.
Fabricated intelligence reports allege that Zambia and Botswana have offered to help in the invasion and that it would be imminent, said a member of the army intelligence.
The CIO also (falsely) reported that Zambia's crack 2nd battalion troops have been placed at the Tug Argan barracks in Ndola, while its Commandos are at the Mushili depot and that these units have been training with the Botswana army, he added.
All the soldiers have been told to come and live in Barracks. Members of the reserve force are also being mobilised and will soon  be armed, said another source.  
Most of our border patrol officers have received their rations and have joined the national army. There will be troop deployments at the border, said a senior member of the police Support Unit.
Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba refused to talk to The Zimbabwean. Look, I have nothing to say to you. What makes you think that I can discuss such issues with you? he said.
Both Botswana and the MDC have denied any involved in training guerrillas outside the country, and the government has failed to produce any evidence.

State of Emergency
Meanwhile MDC secretary general, Tendai Biti, says the Mugabe regime has fabricated evidence to create a smokescreen of instability, in order to impose a state of emergency.
We have no doubt as a party that they are going to declare a state of emergency. We are aware that they have produced a 27-page document which is full of rubbish that contains the purported evidence. We are aware that they have three DVDs of purported confessions by MDC activists. The document is fictitious. They would not have gone that far to prepare expensive DVDs, power point presentations and materials that are annexed to that document if they did not want to use it. They are using this as an entry point to declare a state of emergency, Biti told a press conference this week.
He said MDC Director of Security, Chris Dhlamini, who was abducted four weeks ago, was reported to be featured in one of the videos, making a confession. He believes Zanu (PF) is moving towards banning the MDC as a political party.
Every time Mugabe's regime is under pressure politically they resort to violence, he said, and poured scorn on the banditry allegations saying, bandits are people who can't win elections.
A senior government official told The Zimbabwean that Mugabe had held several meetings with his top officials, and the leaking of possible emergency plans indicated that it was a serious option.
During a state of emergency, the government can restrict the freedom to move, rally, engage in political activities or form groups and impose other limits such as restricting Parliament's right to make laws or even dissolving Parliament.
Under Zimbabwe's constitution, the head of state may declare a state of emergency if it is deemed that the country's security is threatened by war or external aggression, or by internal disturbance beyond the government's authority to control.
Chris Mhike, a human rights lawyer, said given recent developments and rising domestic and international pressure on the Mugabe regime, the likelihood of the imposition of a state of emergency was quite high.
"The possibility has increased and deepened but it would depend if it will be declared lawfully under the Presidential Powers Emergency Act or it could be declared unconstitutionally," Mhike said.
If a state of emergency is to be extended beyond six months, it must be approved by a joint sitting of Parliament, the Constitution says.