HARARE, 12 March 2008 (IRIN) - Zimbabwe's political opposition parties and civic society organisations are castigating senior members of the armed forces for declaring they will not respect any president other than Robert Mugabe.

Mugabe, 84, is facing his toughest presidential challenge since assuming office in 1980 after Zimbabwe won its independence from Britain. The presidential election on March 29 will see the top job contested by Mugabe, leader of the ruling ZANU-PF party; Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of one of the two factions of the split opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and Mugabe's former finance minister, Simba Makoni.

General Constantine Chiwenga, Commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, told a local newspaper they were opposed to those contesting the election against Mugabe. "Elections are coming and the army will not support or salute sell-outs and agents of the West before, during and after the presidential elections ... We will not support anyone other than President Mugabe, who has sacrificed a lot for this country."

Chiwenga has garnered support from Paradzayi Zimondi, commissioner of prison services and a retired army major-general, who has vowed not to salute Tsvangirai or Makoni if either emerged as the presidential victor. The prison services, police, air force and army are all part of the landlocked country's defence forces.

At a recent function, where 14 prison officers were given promotions, Zimondi ordered all correction services officers to vote for Mugabe and ZANU-PF. "I am giving you an order to vote for President Mugabe; I will only support the leadership of President Mugabe, I will not salute Makoni or Tsvangirai.

"We still remember the blood and the graves of our gallant sons and daughters who died for this country, and we shall not sell them out," he said in reference to the liberation war that preceded independence.

A military coup in advance

"What the two senior officers [Chiwenga and Zimondi] have done amounts to staging a coup in advance; they are trying to frighten people and prepare them for a coup," MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told IRIN.

"We have complained to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and will brief all election observers on the threats by the military. The SADC [Southern African Development Community] Observer Team and their counterparts from the African Union will be the first to know," he said.

Makoni's chief strategist, Ibbo Mandaza, told IRIN that in spite of their utterances the two senior officers were aware of their constitutional positions. "If there is a new head of state, they will have no option but to salute the new president because that is a requirement," he said.

Sten Rylander, Sweden's ambassador to Zimbabwe, said the statements by the military were unhelpful and could have a bearing on the outcome of the election. "There are some bad indications about the elections coming from the military officers. The military should say nothing about the elections."

Election observers from the European Union have not been invited to the poll, although its accredited diplomats will observe the election process.

Thabani Moyo, the spokesman for the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, a non-governmental organisation umbrella body, said, "Members of the military are civil servants and if they want to take sides, then they should recuse themselves from such offices. They are there to serve the people, and not to be served by the people."

Other organisations, such as the National Constitutional Assembly, a civil society grouping, have also condemned the statements by the senior military officers.

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