A UN special envoy was confronted last night with the misery of President Mugabe’s devastating “clean-up” campaign when she walked among the ruins of hundreds of homes destroyed a few hours earlier.

Anna Tibaijuka, executive director of Habitat, the UN agency for the homeless, cradled a sickly 14-day-old baby in her arms at Porta Farm, 25 miles from Harare, where residents and human rights agencies said that up to five people had died yesterday as riot police and bulldozers razed the homes of about 12,000 people.

“This is a very sad situation,” said Mrs Tibaijuka, as a crowd, mostly of women, appealed to her: “You are our saviour — we cannot stand this suffering any longer.” The deaths were reported to have occurred as riot police forced people to board trucks to Caledonia Farm, a notorious transit camp on the other side of the Zimbabwean capital. When they refused, they said, police had assaulted them with batons.

Sources said that Mrs Tibaijuka, sent by Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, has privately expressed severe criticism of Mr Mugabe’s “Operation Marambatsvina” (“Drive out the Rubbish”) that is estimated to have made a million people homeless in six weeks.

Otto Saki, from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights who toured Porta Farm yesterday morning, said that one of the dead was a heavily pregnant woman who had been tossed on to a lorry by police. An elderly woman also died falling off a lorry, a four-year-old boy was crushed under a truck and a two-year-old child died of exposure, he said. Residents told Mrs Tibaijuka that the body of a fifth victim, an elderly woman, was under the ruins of her home , buried by bulldozers.

Porta Farm has been “a holding camp” since 1991, when authorities dumped squatters there from a township in a similar operation.

Most of the residents have built sturdy brick houses and have secured court orders barring the Government from evicting them. Police have ignored the courts. “Police are warning people not to stay there tonight, because they are coming back,” said Nick Utano, an unemployed barber whose house was demolished.

In the first indication of a reaction from African leaders to Mr Mugabe’s campaign, the African Commission, the administrative arm of the African Union, said that it was sending Tom Nyanduga, its rapporteur on refugees, to investigate.

Explore World News

• World Agenda

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Asia News

• Africa News

• Ireland News

Times Recommends

• Rio Tinto four held as China prepares case
• Diplomats must keep heads down and trousers up
• When in Rome should one make like Berlusconi?