Thursday, January 11, 2007

Mining: Mass arrests signal Mugabe's intention to hijack goldmines

Zimbabwe has staged one of the largest police actions in its recent history with around 20,000 miners being arrested in police raids across Zimbabwe.

President Robert Mugabe's Government said it has detained more than 19,000 "illegal" miners in recent weeks, an indication that Mugabe intends to nationalise the mining sector. Last year, he said he would take at least 51 per cent of all mines without offering compensation.