Mugabe's iron fist - war veterans, green bombers

By Cris Chinaka

MASVINGO, Zimbabwe (Reuters) - President Robert Mugabe is urging Zimbabweans to 'Vote For The Fist'.

His campaign posters -- portraits of Mugabe wearing an olive green military-type shirt and holding a clenched fist aloft -- reflect his hard-line politics, and remind voters of the crack troops who have helped keep him in power for 28 years.

Mugabe is again counting on his army of war veterans and ruling party youth brigades, known as "green bombers" because of the military-style clothes they wear, to crank up support in his rural power base ahead of the March 29 vote.

The veteran leader is facing his strongest challenge in nearly three decades because of defections by senior ruling ZANU-PF party officials and a deepening economic crisis.

The opposition charges that the "green bombers," war veterans and some members of the Zimbabwean army were behind violent campaigns that helped Mugabe's party retain power in elections in 2000 and 2002. Mugabe denies the allegations.

This week, Human Rights Watch said Mugabe's supporters, including police and central intelligence, had used violence in the run-up to this month's poll to intimidate opponents, undermining chances of a fair vote.

ZANU-PF denies its militant supporters are guilty of intimidation but Zimbabwean rights activists say they have documented years of systematic violence.

"We have heard some horror stories. In 2000 and 2002 ... we had people being dragged out of buses, after being identified as opposition activists, and getting assaulted with clubs and machetes," said an official with Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum.