Zimbabweans go on general strike to stop violence

HARARE, Zimbabwe (Reuters) -- Shops and factories were closed and streets deserted in Zimbabwe's capital Harare on Wednesday as workers began a general strike to demand an end to political violence and the occupation of white-owned farms.

Farmers, industrial workers, businesses and the political opposition backed the one-day stoppage called by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), making it the most broadly based challenge yet to President Robert Mugabe's 20-year rule.

Groups of police armed with automatic rifles patrolled some bus stations and stood on street corners in Harare, but there was no sign of a major police or military intervention.

At 8 a.m. (0600 GMT), the centre of the usually congested capital was deserted, with only a few staff gathering outside two supermarkets waiting to see whether they would open.

In the Willowdale industrial area on the outskirts of Harare, factories remained closed and streets were deserted.

The Kambuzuma, Warren Park and Kuwazana dormitory townships were quiet with small numbers of people boarding buses and taxis to the city.

In the Mazowe district, farm workers stayed in their housing units and there was no sign of workers in the fields at 7:30 a.m., when work usually is well under way.

The mainly white Commercial Farmers' Union and the 10-month-old opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which delivered a strong challenge in elections in June, backed the call, saying Zimbabwe was close to anarchy.

Zimbabwe's government has condemned the strike as unnecessary and warned it will sack all public service workers who join in.

But it said it would only move to protect those who wanted to work rather than intervene to prevent strike action.

The ZCTU on Tuesday reduced the duration of the strike from three days to one, saying it would act as a warning shot against Mugabe's government.

He is being urged to order an end to the intimidation of his political opponents and to order self-styled war veterans to leave white-owned farms occupied in the run-up to the elections.

Government ministers warned in radio broadcasts on Wednesday that the strike would further damage the country's flagging economy and would cost jobs.

Zimbabwe devalued its currency by 24 percent on Tuesday in a drive to revive the economy.

But Nicholas Mudzengerere, the acting secretary-general of the ZCTU, warned on Tuesday that if the government did not respond to the strike, another longer stoppage would be called.

MDC opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai urged Zimbabweans to support the strike, saying Mugabe was pursuing a political vendetta against people who voted against his party in June.

Mugabe's ZANU-PF party narrowly survived the first real challenge to its dominance in the June vote, winning 62 of the 120 parliamentary seats up for election. The MDC won 57 seats.

The government, which faced international criticism for failing to condemn the pre-election violence and the farm occupations, confirmed reports that it had earmarked more than 3,000 white-owned farms for redistribution to black peasants.

Mugabe has said he wants at least five million hectares (12 million acres) of the 12 million hectares (30 million acres) occupied by white farmers and will pay compensation only for improvements to the land unless Britain, the former colonial power, helps fund the redistribution exercise.

At least 31 people, mostly MDC supporters and five farmers, were killed in the wave of pre-election violence.

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