Zimbabwe Opposition Leaders On The Run

Tsvangirai Says He's Being Treated Like A "Common Criminal" As Mugabe Keeps Campaigning

(CBS/ AP)  Leading members of Zimbabwe's opposition are on the run or under attack, yet President Robert Mugabe was campaigning Tuesday, determined to hold a presidential runoff in which he will be the only candidate.

Mugabe has been defiant in the face of international condemnation. His plan to go ahead with the vote appeared to stem less from a desire to validate his rule than to humiliate Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who has been holed up in the Dutch Embassy in Harare since announcing Sunday that he would not compete in Friday's presidential runoff.

In a interview with CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric from the Dutch embassy, Tsvangirai said he didn't believe Mugabe's claim that there was no threat against his life. "I've been treated like a common criminal and not as a leading contender in this campaign," said Tsvangirai. He added Mugabe "may be saying one thing for public consumption but certainly may act in another manner."

Mugabe, a vigorous 84, launched a rally Tuesday by kicking a soccer ball before thousands of cheering supporters.

Tsvangirai's party said Tuesday that the chairwoman of one of its provincial organizations was seriously injured by alleged Mugabe loyalists who also looted her home in a northern region that independent human rights groups say has seen some of the worst violence.

The party also said the rural home of its national organizing secretary was attacked early Tuesday by Mugabe loyalists in military uniform. The party said the official's 80-year-old father was beaten and two other relatives were shot in the legs.

Tsvangirai said the onslaught of state-sponsored violence against his party made the balloting impossible.

George Sibotshiwe, a spokesman for Tsvangirai, said the politician had received a tip that soldiers were on the way to his home Sunday, after he had announced he was pulling out of the runoff.

Sibotshiwe would not reveal the source of the tip, and said the soldiers' intentions were unclear.

But "the moment you have soldiers coming your way, you just run for your life," Sibotshiwe said. "The only way he can protect himself is to go to an embassy."

Sibotshiwe was speaking from Angola after fleeing Zimbabwe earlier this week. He saw armed men approaching a safe house where he had been staying in Zimbabwe, and fears arrest.

"I had a bit of a disaster," he said, adding other opposition officials were also in hiding, among them Tsvangirai's campaign manager. Officials were no longer working out of the party's headquarters in Harare for fear of arrest, Sibotshiwe said.

Tsvangirai's second in command, Tendai Biti, is jailed in Zimbabwe on treason charges, which can carry the death penalty.

Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said Monday that police had taken 39 people from the opposition headquarters as part of an investigation into political violence. Opposition spokesman Nelson Chamisa had said most of the people taken away were women and children seeking refuge after fleeing state-sponsored political violence.

Tsvangirai told the Dutch national broadcaster NOS radio Tuesday that the Dutch ambassador had spoken to the Zimbabwean government and received assurances there was no threat. Tsvangirai said he might leave the embassy Tuesday or Wednesday.

But the U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe, James McGee, said Tsvangirai should be wary of government assurances.

"Right now, I don't have a lot of faith in anything this government says," McGee told reporters in a conference call. The diplomat said violence against the opposition was escalating as election day approached.

"There's really nothing that we can do in the international community to stop these elections," McGee said.

McGee said the embassy expected Mugabe militants to force voters to go to the polls Friday, and to attack anyone who does not vote.

Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, who had made the first public comments about why Tsvangirai fled to the Dutch Embassy, said in a statement late Monday he had hoped to persuade Mugabe and Tsvangirai to share power.

"I can say that this objective has been almost completely snuffed out since I have learned that soldiers went after Morgan Tsvangirai at his residence on Sunday," Wade said.

"Today, (Tsvangirai) is a refugee at the Netherlands Embassy, and there's no guarantee that soldiers won't attack that embassy to take him," Wade said.

Zimbabwean Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga refused to comment on reports Tsvangirai had fled soldiers, saying "this is becoming a circus."

Foreign ministers of the Southern African Development Community, the main regional political and economic bloc, called for talks among Zimbabwean leaders.

Sibotshiwe, Tsvangirai's spokesman, said the opposition was prepared to negotiate with the aim of forming a coalition transitional government. He said Tsvangirai should be president of the proposed transitional authority, and that Mugabe would have no role.

Alternatively, Sibotshiwe said, Tsvangirai was calling for the runoff to be postponed until a free and fair environment had been created.

Tsvangirai's party Tuesday released a copy of the letter sent to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission formally withdrawing from the race. In it, Tsvangirai cites Mugabe's threats on the campaign trail to go to war to stop Tsvangirai from ever gaining power.

McGee, the U.S. ambassador, said the Southern African Development Community, and South Africa as a leading member of that bloc, should speak out with words as "firm and as hard-hitting" as a U.N. Security Council statement issued Monday. The council condemned "the campaign of violence against the political opposition ahead of the second round of presidential elections," and said the violence and restrictions on opposition activists "have made it impossible for a free and fair election to take place."

Zimbabwe's neighbors may have more influence than the U.N., McGee said. Zimbabwe is a landlocked country and therefore vulnerable to actions such as border closings.

"Regional bodies have tremendous influence," McGee said. "There are so many things that could be brought to bear that could have a tremendous, immediate impact on the government of Zimbabwe."

[runningralph]

Rhodesia was a successful, prosperous, peaceful country. What happened? Was it the same thing that''s happening to the US today? The Africans are taking over? Will our elections be settled by mobs with machetes? Will we be bowing to the East 5 times a day?

[ubrew12]

sociald63 said: "who gives a rats a-ss ??? "

I do. With a minimal investment in military posturing (and perhaps a well-aimed missile or two), we could help Zimbabwe out of this dictatorship. This is no $3 trillion invasion/occupation that kills 4000 Americans and ends up being about oil. This kills 0 Americans, costs $4 million, tops, SAVES perhaps a million African lives, and allows democracy a chance to breathe in Zimbabwe. (Maybe thats why the administration will do nothing).

I know you don''t make the connection, but dictatorship is a virus that grows, and affects people right here in America. Alot of these tin-horn dictators could be taken out with MINIMAL investment in American greenbacks, and HUGE dividends in African goodwill and assistance in our global goals.

[sociald63]

who gives a rats a-ss ??? let ''em mutilate each other

[djlny]

Thabo Mbeki and the ANC are the real casualties here and the real target. All of their credibility is being lost on the democratic front and the role of the gun is the rule of the land. Live by the sword, die by the sword. May God help them all - for the harvest of the seeds they are sowing is very ugly.

[djlny]

Thabo Mbeki and the ANC are the real casualties here and the real target. All of their credibility is being lost on the democratic front and the role of the gun is the rule of the land. Live by the sword, die by the sword. May God help them all - for the harvest of the seeds they are sowing is very ugly.

[ramos937]

Zimbabwe has been and is still, a dictatorship. The only ones that make a real difference are the Organization of African States and the UN. Besides supporting their efforts, we must not get actively involved. If we did get actively involved, Mugabe would use us as a whipping boy and get all of Africa againist whatever efforts have been made againist him by others turned aside.

[dobbershome]

MCVet

You can figure that out,can''t you.

[brianp55]

Who in the hell cares? Let them run this country into the ground if they want to.

[bhrater-2009]

Bush has increased direct development and humanitarian aid to Africa to more than $4 billion a year from $1.4 billion in 2001, according to the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. And four African nations -- Sudan, Ethiopia, Egypt and Uganda -- rank among the world''s top 10 recipients in aid from the United States.

[faith_in_w]

Why doesnt Bush just do this? Bwahahaha! We could have the liberals on the run for good and have Christian rule for the reat of time.