Financial Gazette
Zimbabwe: MDC Under Siege Financial Gazette (Harare) March 28, 2007 Posted to the web March 29, 2007 Njabulo Ncube, Clemence Manyukwe Harare
POLICE briefly held
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai
yesterday after raiding his party''s headquarters in central Harare in what they described as a search for petrol bombs and weapons the party has been accused of amassing for the purpose of perpetrating violence. At least 10 activists were
arrested in the mid-day swoop, during which police sealed off adjacent streets. The drama happened as
President Robert Mugabe flew out of Harare on his way to Tanzania to attend an extra-ordinary Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit that will discuss the tense political situation in Zimbabwe. Diplomatic sources told The Financial Gazette yesterday that SADC member states namely Tanzania, Botswana, Lesotho and Zambia -- which has broken ranks on the region''s policy of calm engagement -- would today pressure President Mugabe to come up with a timetable for his retirement. Tsvangirai''s brief arrest occurred shortly before the former trade unionist was to hold a key press conference at which it is understood he was to announce that his party would boycott the 2008 elections. Sources in the main opposition party said Tsvangirai also intended to brief the media on the abductions of party members, which have continued over the past year. Police trucks with heavily armed police details descended on the MDC''s Harvest House offices, sealing off four streets and causing congestion of both traffic and pedestrians. Tsvangirai was later released. Police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena said the raid had been carried out to flush out those behind a series of petrol bombings throughout the country. "We are not witch-hunting. We are carrying out proper and thorough investigations to bring to book all those committing acts of terror," said Bvudzijena. He denied that Tsvangirai had been arrested, as claimed earlier by the MDC, but stressed that if the opposition leader was linked to the bombings, police would arrest him. The police spokesperson confirmed the arrest of Piniel Denga, the alleged mastermind behind the bombings. Dynamite and detonators were recovered from Denga''s house, said Bvudzijena. Ian Makone, a top Tsvangirai advisor, was also arrested after unlicensed firearms were discovered at his home, Bvudzijena said. He claimed that some of the MDC members carrying out "acts of sabotage" had been staying at Harvest House, and that 10 activists had been arrested. Tendai Biti, secretary general of Tsvangirai''s faction of the MDC, calling the swoop an act of "fascism" said: "The initial number of people arrested at Harvest House is about 20. They also arrested members of staff and everyone they found on the 4th and 5th floors. This is fascism. These are actions of a mad and erratic regime that has lost all direction." Harvest House also houses private companies, whose staff were also detained. Shops around Harvest House were forced to close, with shoppers and pedestrians reporting random police beatings during the raid. Tsvangirai''s brief detention yesterday was his second brush with the police within a month. He was one of 50 opposition leaders and activists arrested on March 11 in Highfield as a coalition of opposition groups attempted to gather for a rally. Despite repeated government charges that the MDC leaders had been arrested for inciting violence, the Attorney General''s is yet to prosecute any of them. Two days after the March 11 arrests, Tsvangirai and other senior MDC officials emerged at the magistrates'' court bearing signs of heavy beating, images that outraged the world and sparked African alarm. Yesterday, President Mugabe arrived in Dar es Salaam, the Tanzanian capital, amid growing signs of unease among his SADC neighbours over the political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe. Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, who chairs politics, security and defence, and who was in Harare two weeks ago, convened the two-day meeting. Apart from Zimbabwe, the meeting will also discuss fighting in the DRC and the recent Lesotho polls. The special two-day summit will be a test for the 14- member SADC grouping, accused in some quarters of not flexing its collective muscle against President Mugabe''s government. Political analysts said while regional leaders were unlikely to condemn President Mugabe publicly, the Tanzanian summit was important in focusing world attention on Zimbabwe''s escalating crisis. Although impatience with President Mugabe is clearly spreading in the region, diplomats said yesterday it was unlikely that leaders would come out in public as stridently critical of his rule as Zimbabwe''s western critics hope. But other diplomats said the only demonstration by the region of its unease with Zimbabwe would most likely be in the form of stricter border controls, on which Botswana took the lead last week. Analysts say although it is certain that leaders will express their concerns to President Mugabe today, it is unlikely that they will echo the shrill criticism of the West, as many governments across the continent remain suspicious of the MDC. Since the March 11 protests, in which at least one activist was killed, police have reported a spate of petrol bombings that they blame on the MDC. Last week, a petrol bomb was thrown into a passenger train leaving Harare for Bulawayo, while this week, ZANU PF district offices in Mbare were attacked. Similar bombings have been reported in Bulawayo, Gweru and Mutare where, police say, there was an attempt to bomb a fuel tanker The MDC, which denies responsibility for the attacks, alleged yesterday that police assaulted the family of opposition Budiriro Member of Parliament (MP), Emmanuel Chisvuure. According to party officials, police raided the MP''s home and demanded to know his whereabouts. They then beat members of his family, the MDC said. On Tuesday, opposition member Last Maengahama was abducted in Harare by six unidentified men outside a Borrowdale shopping mall. He was later found by a roadside in Mutorashanga, officials say, where he was dumped after being severely beaten. According to Bvudzijena, yesterday''s raid was part of a wider operation that included swoops on an undisclosed number of homes in Harare on Tuesday night. A meeting of Tsvangirai''s national executive is expected to be held on Saturday to endorse a poll boycott and to press for constitutional reform. However, Nathan Shamuyarira, the ZANU PF spokesman, said elections would go ahead despite threats by the opposition to boycott them. Meanwhile, Britain has urged the United Nations Security Council and leaders attending the SADC summit to reprimand President Mugabe over his country''s deteriorating human rights and humanitarian situation. The Security Council is due to be briefed today about the situation in Zimbabwe. "We believe that the United Nations and specifically this council should accelerate action on Zimbabwe to match that of the European Union and other regional organisations such as SADC," Britain''s UN Ambassador Emyr Parry Jones told the Security Council. European Union president Germany said it was "deeply concerned" at the arrest of opposition politicians, while the European Parliament said it was time to end the "brutality." But South Africa''s UN Ambassador, Dumisani Kumalo, the council president for March, has said the situation in Zimbabwe is not a threat to international peace and security and therefore, should not be dealt with by the Security Council. Jones Parry said Britain welcomed plans by the 14-member SADC to discuss Zimbabwe at its leaders'' meeting in Tanzania. "We hope that summit will send a strong message about the human rights and humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe where daily the news seems to get worse," he said.
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