Mashingaidze: The 1987 Zimbabwe National Unity Accord and Its Aftermath 85 [T]he desertion in 1982 of thousands of armed former Zipras from the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) and their persecution at home led to a vast increase of dissident violence in Matabeleland. These dissidents were not the same as those of 1980. Their position was due to the deterioration of relations within the ZNA and targeting of former Zipras outside it, a situation that was to worsen dramatically with the deployment of the notorious Fifth Brigade to Matabeleland North in 1983. The Fifth Brigade was unlike other units of the ZNA. It was accountable only to the then Prime Minister, and not to the normal military chain of command. It was specifically intended for what were termed ‘internal defense purposes’ (Alexander et al 2000:181). From its deployment in Matabeleland North in January 1983 until its withdrawal from Matabeleland South in late 1984, the brigade carried out a grotesquely violent campaign. It targeted party chairmen and civil servants, civilians at large, as well as former Zipra combatants, refugees, and anyone suspected of having crossed the border to Botswana in the course of the liberation war. Former Zipra combatants rarely survived encounters with this brigade. Its violence largely shaped the spread and character of dissidency (Alexander et al 2000). The operation to expunge the dissidents was code-named Gukurahundi (in Shona, this phrase means the first rains of the year that wash away rubbish). Although the government deployed many sectors of its security apparatus, the Fifth Brigade excelled in repression. Many people were tortured, raped, murdered, maimed in the pursuit of dissident quashing. Many people still bear the mental and physical scars of the war. There are differing views on the civil war. Although ethnicity was a factor in the war, in terms of its spatial dimensions, expressions and victims, its course did not altogether follow ethnic lines. The dissidents did not enjoy civilian support. Areas that were predominantly Shona were also attacked if they were perceived to be amenable to the dissident cause, especially those that fell under the ZAPU spheres of influence during the liberation struggle. Such areas included Hurungwe and Gokwe. On the part of the former ZAPU cadres who joined dissident ranks, the war of the 1980s had no political leadership, had no civilian and party support, no hope of success but only of survival (Alexander et al 2000:181). No protagonists in the disturbances of the 1980s were immune to tribal animosities. The Fifth Brigade and other state security units targeted largely Ndebeles. On the other, the dissidents attacked Shona speakers, particularly those in the Midlands district of Mberengwa. The Matabeleland inferno ended after the signing of the Unity Accord on 22 December 1987 between Prime Minister Mugabe and the ZAPU leader Joshua Nkomo, who had been persecuted by the ZANU government, 4.Mashingaidze.pmd 85 31/10/2005, 12:54