Massacre of the innocents, Ministry of Information, January 1978.pdf

Cover picture: Natasha Glenny, six and a half months old, who was bayoneted to

death by 20 terrorists in September, 1977.

MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS

Rural black Rhodesians-men, women and children-have been the major victims of the

country's escalating terror war. As it enters its sixth year, more than 2 500 black civilians

have been killed, compared with 121 white civilians and 400 members of the Security

Forces (black and white). Thousands more black civilians have been injured.

Known terrorist losses amount to over 3 690 within Rhodesia, many more have been

killed in raids on terrorist bases in Mozambique, and it is certain that many hundreds

more have died as the result of wounds, malnutrition and disease in base camps across the

border.

Tragically, the villagers are dying in a war they do not want, waged to further a political

creed they do not understand or care about. Many have died agonisingly after torture,

mutilation, burning and beating. Others have had lips, ears and cheeks hacked off, which

relatives have been forced to cook and eat.

Cattle and other livestock were slaughtered or hamstrung, huts and grain stores were

burnt by marauding gangs during the early part of the war. Unarmed villagers were

forced to watch the senseless destruction by terrorists equipped with automatic weapons.

Today, many thousands have taken grateful refuge in protected villages or live in

communities protected by the security forces and the para-military wing of the Ministry

of Internal Affairs.

The increasingly heavy toll exacted by the security forces has caused the desperate

terrorists leaders and political commissars to abduct schoolchildren for training. Many

who attempted to escape have been shot.

In some remote areas, mission schools have been closed because of the murder and

intimidation of the staff by terrorists.

Although white farm and livestock output rose during the first eight months of 1977,

black output fell by 8,7 per cent, to $18,8 million because of the war.

The terrorists are themselves terrified of the security forces and make every effort to

avoid contacts with them. They concentrate instead on "soft" targets. High on their list

are mission stations where the residents are known to be unarmed.

Dedicated missionaries, female and male, including a 71-year-old former Bishop of

Bulawayo, have been gunned down.

Children, black and white, have also been victims of the heavily-armed gangs. In one

instance, a six-month-old child, Natasha Glenny, was dragged from the arms of her nanny

and bayoneted to death by a 20-strong group. In another, a gang of children were

mortared as they played on the lawns of a country club.

But the majority of child casualties have been black. They died with their parents in

massacres, burnt to death in their huts as they slept, or were blown up by landmines

planted indiscriminately throughout the Tribal Trust Lands.