Thorn in Mugabe's flesh

Where is Jestina Mukoko? Sophie Shaw writes about the circumstances of her abduction and the current fears for her safety. She says of Mukoko:

She resigned from state television to become director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, a human rights monitoring network, and has been one of the regime's most intelligent, influential and informed critics.

She has collected evidence of tens of thousands of abuses in the past decade. Her monthly reports have detailed the routine tyranny of violence, the shortage of food and the denial of free speech that characterise Zimbabwean life today, particularly in rural areas.

Mukoko pioneered the use of information technology to map Zanu-PF's attacks on its opponents. Before elections last March she presented her findings publicly in a Harare hotel. She knew her audience included members of the CIO but nevertheless set out patterns of violence in the 2002 and 2005 elections and predicted where trouble would occur in 2008.

The places she identified - such as Manicaland and Masvingo provinces - were indeed subjected to Zanu-PF campaigns of mass eviction, communal beating and murder. Opposition figures believe much of Zimbabwe's current tragedy might have been avoided if international observers had followed her advice and gone to such trouble spots.

Mukoko has been an outspoken critic of Zimbabwe's system of supplying food. Her analysis shows food is supplied to those showing loyalty to the ruling party and is denied to opposition supporters.

See also this report in the Observer, giving information about other abductions of human rights activists in Zimbabwe.