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Veterans accused of firing shots in Zimbabwe election

Zimbabwe's opposition Move-ment for Democratic Change (MDC) said war veterans loyal to President Robert Mugabe fired shots at its supporters on Satur-day during a parliamentary by-election, but no one was injured.

The by-election in the town of Kadoma, some 140km southwest of the capital Harare, was called to fill a vacancy created by the death of a MDC legislator earlier this year.

"War veterans ... fired shots at MDC youths this morning as voting started... No one was injured," the MDC said in a statement.

Police Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena said checks were being made on the MDC statement. Electoral officials were not immediately available for comment, but state radio quoted them as saying polling was peaceful.

A victory for Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party would make a symbolic dent on the opposition's grip on urban centers.

The MDC, which accuses Mugabe of vote-rigging and blames him for an economic crisis, won most of Zimbabwe's urban seats during 2000 parliamentary elections.

Victory would also take ZANU-PF a step closer to the two-thirds parliamentary majority it needs to make constitutional changes.

Mugabe dismisses the MDC as a puppet of former colonial power Britain and other Western governments.

Voting ended last night and results are expected today.

The MDC, which has gone to court to challenge Mugabe's re-election in last year's presidential elections that it says were rigged, said veterans of the 1970s war against white minority rule in the then Rhodesia had set up bases near all polling stations in Kadoma.

War veterans have been prominent in Mugabe's campaign to seize white-owned farms and redistribute them to landless blacks. The veterans have invaded and occupied white farms.

Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, says his land reforms are designed to redress an injustice of colonial rule and accuses opponents at home and abroad of sabotaging the economy.
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