14 Mount Darwin District: A case study Mount Darwin is an administrative district in Mashonaland Central Province of Zimbabwe. Situated in the north-east of the country, this district was very early involved in the Liberation War of the 1970's, with the first attack of the ZANLA forces coming in December 1972 at Altena Farm in Centenary, an adjacent district. Mount Darwin, with Rushinga, comprised "Chaminuka" operational area for the ZANLA forces, and, with "Nehanda" and "Takawira" operational areas, formed the first major offensive of the war. These three areas were part of "Hurricane" operational area, the term used by the security forces of the illegal Rhodesian government. These two districts were involved very early in the liberation war, both because of their proximity to Mozambique, and the long, easily penetrated border. It is not surprising, therefore, that they are districts with some of the worst records for human rights violations during that war. Much of the recording during this time was done by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace(CCJP), and it is noteworthy that reports of torture and ill-treatment were coming in as early as March 1973. The rural people of Mount Darwin were subjected to extreme pressure and deprivation during these years. In order to control the guerrillas' access to the populace, a policy of forced villagisation was instituted: termed "keeps" or "protected villages", the population was forced to reside in these villages by night with a strict dawn-to-dusk curfew imposed. Between 1973 and 1978 almost 750 000 rural people were forced into keeps throughout Zimbabwe. The life within these villages was extremely hard, and, in the north-east, malnutrition, starvation, overcrowding, and inadequate sanitation were commonplace, as the investigations of the CCJP demonstrated. After the Altena Farm attack, the security forces instituted severe reprisals against the population that was felt to be supporting the ZANLA forces. Schools, clinics, mills, shops, and beerhalls were closed; property was confiscated and destroyed; collective fines were imposed for failures to report the guerrillas; and mass arrests were made, with detentions and interrogations, involving torture, following. By 1975, the CCJP had compiled comprehensive reports on the activities of the Rhodesian security forces, including one on the north-east.33 The torture and ill-treatment of civilians is amply attested by these and other human rights reports, as well as by many other commentators. Moore-King, a former Rhodesian soldier, bluntly catalogues the kinds of treatment meted out by security forces: beatings, suspensions, electrical torture, submarino and suffocations, mock executions, and real, arbitrary killings.34 This is well attested to by the civilians and guerrillas who experienced these human rights violations, and should also include those who were the victims of ZANLA reprisals. In 1975, a dawn-to-dusk curfew was imposed along the Mozambique border, and severe penalties prescribed for breaking the curfew. In practice, curfew breakers were frequently shot, and always punished. Beatings, rapes, killings, and torture were commonplace. The enacting of the notorious Indemnity and Compensation Act of 1975 (with retroactive application to 1972) gave security forces the impunity to kill and maim at will. Attacks on villages became more frequent, with the government explanation of civilians being "caught in crossfire". Such explanations, when investigated by CCJP, were often less plausible, and, for example, one such incident, at Karima village near Mount Darwin, suggested no presence of ZANLA forces, and much more a deliberate massacre to intimidate the local population. Thus, throughout the 1970's, the people of Mount Darwin and Rushinga were subjected to continuous stress, illtreatment, deprivation, torture, and killing. They suffered materially too, with 33 See CCJP.(1974) The Man in the Middle, Gwelo: Catholic Commission for justic and Peace; see also CCJP (1976), Civil War in Rhodesia, Gwelo: Catholic Commission for justice and Peace. 34 See Moore-King(1986), “White Man, Black War”, Harare: Baobab Press.