ZIMBABWE should hold at least 1,100 public debates on a new constitution again after security forces attacked or threatened participants, said a leader of the discussions in the Movement for Democratic Change.

"Soldiers in uniform and civilian clothes have been dropped at sites where the debates are planned," Douglas Mwonzora said by phone from the capital, Harare, on Oct. 1. The security forces "instruct people what and what not to say and threaten punishment should they be disobeyed."

The comments follow a report by New York-based Human Rights Watch that said President Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party was responsible for violence at the constitutional debates. Paul Mangwana, a Zanu-PF lawmaker who co-heads the constitutional process with Mwonzora, denied his party was behind the campaign of violence.

The MDC and Zanu-PF are organizing the debates in an effort to get citizens to agree on a new constitution before elections loosely scheduled for next year.

Mugabe was the sole candidate in the last elections in 2008, after MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew citing Zanu-PF violence against his party. A power-sharing agreement subsequently installed Tsvangirai as Prime Minister in an interim government.

"This violence and intimidation do not bode well for the referendum and elections that could be held next year," Human Rights Watch said in an e-mailed statement Sept. 28.

Zimbabwe National Army spokesman Everson Magwiza denied any military involvement in the recent violence.

"Some soldiers may be attending the debates in their private capacity as Zimbabwean citizens, but there is no military intervention to disrupt the meetings," Magwiza said by phone from Harare on Oct. 1.

By Bloomberg