Soldiers patrol Zimbabwe streets after deadly protests over economy

[January 15, 2019]  By MacDonald Dzirutwe

HARARE (Reuters) - Soldiers patrolled Zimbabwe city streets on Tuesday and confrontations with demonstrators threatened to boil over, as the government offered public workers more money a day after protests over the country's collapsing economy turned deadly.

Monday's unrest, during which several people died, followed sharp fuel price hikes decreed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Impatient Zimbabweans accuse him of failing to live up to pre-election promises to kick-start growth, having seen their purchasing power eroded by rampant inflation.

As more protests threatened to break out, Labour Minister Sekai Nzenza said public workers would be granted a monthly supplement of between 5 and 23 percent of their salaries from January to March while wage negotiations with unions continued.

Mnangagwa, absent on an official visit in Moscow, has also promised a clean break from the oppressive regime of long-term leader Robert Mugabe, who he forced out in a de facto coup in November 2017.

The president said Zimbabwe might need Russia's help in modernizing its army and was interested in receiving Russian loans, RIA news agency reported.

Soldiers patrol during protests on a road leading to Harare, Zimbabwe, during protests, January 15, 2019. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo

In Harare and Zimbabwe's second city Bulawayo, banks, schools, businesses and the sock market remained shut on Tuesday as many residents stayed at home.

But witnesses said security forces were deploying to stave off further demonstrations, and many people in the capital said they could no longer access the Internet.

(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; editing by John Stonestreet)

[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.