Johannesburg - The deadlocked negotiations between Zimbabwe's rival political leaders should focus on providing justice and relief to the victims of political violence - and not just politics, Amnesty International said Friday in Johannesburg.

Presenting a report on recent human rights abuses in Zimbabwe, the London-based rights watchdog pointed out that no one had been held accountable for the campaign of state-sponsored violence against opposition supporters in the wake of March elections.

Over 120 people were killed and thousands reportedly injured and displaced in attacks by ruling party militia and the military to avenge President Robert Mugabe's defeat by the Movement for Democratic Change.

"The rights of victims to an effective remedy must be recognized - their right to compensation, knowing the truth, and satisfaction from seeing the perpetrators being brought to justice - thereby sending a message that the new Zimbabwe will not tolerate political differences to be 'resolved' through beating or torture," Amnesty said.

Most of the victims of the violence that was concentrated in rural areas were subsistence farmers, who were managing, despite drought and hyperinflation, to feed their families, Amnesty said.

That had changed. "Some will need food assistance possible for the rest of their lives because farmers arms were broken, their legs were broken," Amnesty's researcher on Zimbabwe, Simeon Mawanza told reporters.

While Amnesty recognized the sensitivity within Mugabe's regime on the issue of facing justice for past wrongs, the proposed unity government would have to face up to the past to avoid repeat scenes in the future, Mawanza warned.

The report comes amid renewed appeals from world leaders, including UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon, for Mugabe and the MDC quickly to put in place the unity government they agreed to form six weeks ago. The two sides have become bogged down in squabbling over ministries.

With Zimbabwe teetering on the brink of all-out famine, the situation is seen as critical.

"We're calling for humanitarian assistance," the head of GAPWUZ farm workers union, Gertrude Hambira, said.

"We thought the powersharing deal would bring bread and butter on the table."

Instead, hungry workers at a crocodile farm in the west of the country were eating food meant for the reptiles, she said. One worker had died after eating the rotten food, she said.

Inflation of over 230 million per cent and the dollarization of the economy - basic foods such as maize meal are now mainly sold in foreign currency - means many people in what was once the breadbasket of Africa can no longer afford a loaf of bread.

Aid agencies are being hampered from providing relief by Mugabe's regime, which accuses them of bias towards the MDC. (dpa)