Zimbabwe: victims of massacres under Mugabe soon exhumed and buried according to custom
President Emmerson Mnangagwa promised in 2019 to authorize the customary exhumation and burial of victims of massacres under the Mugabe regime.
AFP / File
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
The victims and families of victims of the massacres of the early 1980s finally heard.
In a statement following further discussions with traditional leaders, the Zimbabwean government said victims may be exhumed and buried with dignity according to custom.
It was a promise from the president that dated back to 2019.
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This announcement is a strong gesture from the authorities awaited for almost forty years by the victims and their families of the massacres committed between 1983 and 1984. Considered to be dissidents, around 20,000 civilians were killed in the region of Matabeleland in the southwest of France. country.
The operation was called "Gukurahundi" - which means "to
separate the wheat from the chaff
".
The current president, Emmerson Mnangagwa
was Minister of Health at the material time.
He would have been one of the main architects of this bloody repression.
A few years ago, he called this episode a "
task
" in the history of the country, without apologizing.
According to a government statement, the issue of exhumations and re-burials should be resolved on a "
case by case basis and according to custom
".
These are the traditional leaders who will be in charge of guiding the ceremonies.
Assistance to victims and their families will also be considered on a case-by-case basis, add the authorities.
Among the claims of the representatives of the victims: obtaining a pension, free education or the establishment of social protection.
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Zimbabwe
Emmerson Mnangagwa