Report: Zimbabwe militias hold sex slaves

HARARE, Zimbabwe, July 7 (UPI) -- Youth militias loyal to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe hold women suspected of favoring opposition parties captive as sex slaves, one such woman says.

The 21-year-old woman, speaking on condition of anonymity to The Los Angeles Times, told the newspaper she was abducted by paramilitary supporters of Mugabe's ZANU-PF party during the run-up to the June 27 run-off presidential election because her mother supported the rival Movement for Democratic Change party.

The youth militia has held her at a base near Harare ever since and raped her four to five times per day, she said.

"I pray to God most of the time," she told the Times. "I pray, 'You are the one who knows my future. Help me. Stop this happening to me.'"

Zimbabwean sources told the newspaper the ZANU-PF established 900 such militia bases around the county to coordinate their attacks on MDC supporters. MDC officials say around 100 of their backers were killed by the militias, with thousands more wounded and intimidated into voting for Mugabe.

The woman said she had hoped she would be freed after the election, but that hasn't happened, adding she doesn't run away because militia members threatened to kill her mother.