Worth reading: Zimbabwe youth militias hold sex slaves


The Los Angeles Times interviewed a 21-year-old woman who says she is being held as a sex slave by youth militias loyal to President Robert Mugabe.

The story, which is based on anonymous sources, says she was seized 10 weeks ago because her mother supports the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

"She has to stay most of each day and night at the base, a sex slave of the thuggish youth militias unleashed by the government. The Times interviewed her during one of the several short daily periods she is allowed to leave the ZANU-PF base," the paper says. "When asked why she doesn't escape during that time, Asiatu gives a chilling explanation: 'They promised me if I run away, my mother will be killed.'"