V. Ongoing Violations of Civil and Political Rights Zimbabwe’s September 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA) has not brought an end to ZANU-PF’s attacks on its opponents and critics. The party continues to use state institutions such as the police and the justice system as a weapon against MDC supporters, civil society activists, and human rights defenders. Enforced Disappearances and Illegal Detentions Since the end of October 2008, ZANU-PF has used the police and other state agencies to arbitrarily arrest and ‘’disappear’’73 more than 40 MDC members and human rights activists. The first wave of abductions and “disappearances” took place on October 29 when 15 MDC members, including Violet Mupfuranhehwe and her two-year-old child, were abducted from their homes in Banket, Mashonaland West. The assailants in these pre-dawn raids were 12 armed men in civilian clothing claiming to be members of the Law and Order section of the Zimbabwe Republic Police Force.74 On December 3, Jestina Mukoko, a leading human rights activist and Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) director, was taken from her home in Norton at around 5 a.m. by at least 15 men who identified themselves as working for the Law and Order section of the Zimbabwe Republic Police Force.75 Zachariah Nkomo, the brother of Harrison Nkomo, a human rights lawyer working for Mukoko's release, was abducted from his home in Rujeko, Masvingo province, around midnight on December 5 by four unidentified men in civilian clothes.76 On December 8, two of Mukoko’s colleagues, Pascal Gonzo and Broderick Takawira, ZPP’s provincial coordinator, were abducted by five unidentified men from the ZPP premises in Harare. The men, in civilian clothes, forced Gonzo and Takawira into one of six Mazda 73 An enforced disappearance is detention by authorities who refuse to acknowledge that they are holding the person or to reveal the person's fate or whereabouts, placing that person outside the protection of the law, and is a serious violation of international law. See International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, G.A. res. 61/177, U.N. Doc. A/RES/61/177 (2006), adopted Dec. 20, 2006. 74 “Zimbabwe: End Enforced Disappearances,” Human Rights Watch news release, December 19, 2008, http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/12/19/zimbabwe-end-enforced-disappearances 75 “Zimbabwe: Investigate Whereabouts of Abducted Human Rights Activist,” Human Rights Watch news release, December 3, 2008, http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/12/03/zimbabwe-investigate-whereabouts-abducted-human-rights-activist 76 “Zimbabwe: International Organizations Call for End to Abductions of Activists,” Human Rights Watch news release, December 10, 2008, http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/12/09/zimbabwe-international-organizations-call-end-abductionsactivists Crisis without Limits 24