Judge arrested in Harare police raid

Police in Zimbabwe have arrested a retired white judge who tried to have the Justice Minister detained on contempt of court charges. It is the first time a judge in Zimbabwe has been arrested.

The opposition denounced yesterday's arrest as a vendetta by the government against Judge Fergus Blackie for his contempt ruling against Patrick Chinamasa earlier this year.

Relatives said the police stormed Judge Blackie's Harare home at 4am and took him away. Deirdre Blackie, the judge's daughter-in-law, told The Independent that her family feared for his safety. "Of major concern to us is that they [the police] are denying us access to him. He is 65 and has blood pressure problems. We can't get medication to him," said Mrs Blackie. "It's not an issue of his honesty and capability. It's all about his colour."

The arrest was foreshadowed by an article in the state-controlled Herald newspaper yesterday claiming that Judge Blackie would face criminal prosecution for "abusing" his position to overturn the embezzlement conviction of a white woman, Tara White. The Herald said the new Chief Justice, Godfrey Chidyausiku, an ally of the President, Robert Mugabe, had instructed the police to start criminal investigations against Judge Blackie.

Chief Justice Chidyausiku accused Judge Blackie of "improperly" quashing Ms White's conviction because he had failed to consult the black judge who sat with him on the case.

But the political opposition believes the real reason for Judge Blackie's arrest is that shortly before his retirement in July, he ordered the arrest of Mr Chinamasa for criticising sentences imposed on three Americans for possessing arms. The Justice Minister was not arrested and said at the time that Judge Blackie's ruling was "a hostile parting shot against the executive which should not be tolerated".

Judge Blackie was the seventh judge in 15 months to step down from the bench after issuing rulings that angered Mr Mugabe. The Chief Justice, Anthony Gubbay, was among those forced to quit after he declared Mr Mugabe's land seizures unlawful. Chief Justice Chidyausiku had previously been a deputy cabinet minister.

Military sources said yesterday that Mr Mugabe would secretly keep more than 2 000 troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo to safeguard his mining interests, despite claims he would withdraw them all. Although an official ceremony was held yesterday in the diamond rich town of Mbuji Mbayi to mark the beginning of the withdrawal in line with a recent peace accord, military sources said it did not make strategic sense for Mr Mugabe to withdraw all his troops.

"The DRC army is rag-tag and there is still need to safeguard Zimbabwe's vital interests there," one military source said in reference to vast mining concessions granted to Zimbabwe in exchange for Mr Mugabe's military support.

Although the mines were supposed to be exploited to reimburse the debt owed to Zimbabwe's national treasury by the Congolese government for the war effort, the proceeds from the mining deals allegedly have been pocketed by Mr Mugabe, his henchmen and senior figures in the army.

Sources said Mr Mugabe would retain some presence in Congo until peace was fully restored. Opposition figures believe many senior Zimbabwean army officials do not want peace because this would hamper their efforts to loot the mineral riches.

The Congolese President, Joseph Kabila, wants some soldiers to remain because he cannot rely on his own army to safeguard his position should the peace deals fail.

At one stage, Mr Mugabe had 16,000 soldiers in Congo. At least 10,000 Zimbabwean soldiers are there now, contrary to Zimbabwe's claim that only 3,000 soldiers are left.