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Supporters rally for Morgan Tsvangirai
Opposition Leader Detained as Zimbabwe Election Turmoil Continues
by
findingDulcinea Staff
Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been detained by police while campaigning for the upcoming presidential run-off, according to his party.
30-Second Summary
The BBC reports that a convoy carrying Tsvangirai and his officials was stopped at a police roadback Wednesday morning. They were taken to a police station in the far west of the country.
The presidential candidate and his party say the detainment is the latest of the government's attempts to sabotage their campaign. The country will hold a run-off election between Tsvangirai and 28-year incumbent Robert Mugabe on June 27.
MDC says 58 of its supporters have been killed by progovernment henchmen since March's national elections.
Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in the initial election, but not with enough votes to avoid a second round. Since then, the country has seen increasing levels of violence.
Last month, after the MDC reported that 32 of its supporters had been killed, an official at the United Nations warned that the violence was reaching "crisis levels," and other observers expressed concern that the second election will not be free and fair due to the current condition in the country.
Speaking this week in Bulawayo, a large city in the southwest of the Zimbabwe, Tsvangirai said that Mugabe is determined to turn the country into a "war-zone" in order to steal the election.
"But we will not stop campaigning, the people will not stop supporting the MDC and together we will defeat this illegitimate and desperate regime," he said.
The presidential candidate and his party say the detainment is the latest of the government's attempts to sabotage their campaign. The country will hold a run-off election between Tsvangirai and 28-year incumbent Robert Mugabe on June 27.
MDC says 58 of its supporters have been killed by progovernment henchmen since March's national elections.
Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in the initial election, but not with enough votes to avoid a second round. Since then, the country has seen increasing levels of violence.
Last month, after the MDC reported that 32 of its supporters had been killed, an official at the United Nations warned that the violence was reaching "crisis levels," and other observers expressed concern that the second election will not be free and fair due to the current condition in the country.
Speaking this week in Bulawayo, a large city in the southwest of the Zimbabwe, Tsvangirai said that Mugabe is determined to turn the country into a "war-zone" in order to steal the election.
"But we will not stop campaigning, the people will not stop supporting the MDC and together we will defeat this illegitimate and desperate regime," he said.
Headline Link: Tsvangirai detained
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said that Tsvangirai, as well as the party's vice-president, national chairman and security personnel, are being "illegally detained" at the police charge office in Lupane.
Source: The BBC
Background: Zimbabwe’s presidential election
Mugabe’s recount further delayed the announcement of the election results. Amid reports of violence, opposition leader Tsvangirai fled the country.
Source: findingDulcinea
Related Topics: Unrest following the March election
Observers are concerned that a second election round cannot be free and fair due to escalating political violence. The diplomats who were interrogated by police had been touring hospitals and an alleged torture camp when police asked them to prove that they had official permission. The incident was “a message to us, to try to control what we are doing,” said U.S. Embassy spokesman Paul Engelstad.
Source: International Herald Tribune
In May, hackers shut down the website of Zimbabwe's state-owned Herald newspaper for three days. The newspaper is widely seen as the official mouthpiece of the Zanu-PF party. Headlines on the site were replaced by the word "Gukurahundi," a reference to a campaign of atrocities the government is accused of committing.
Source: Reuters
U.S. ambassador James McGee, in response to accusations by the Herald that he is trying to demonize the government, criticized the Zimbabwean government for doing nothing to stop postelection violence. “The degree of the violence is brutality like I’ve never seen before. I’ve even been in war zones.”
Source: Voice of America
The Zimbabwean justice minister has suggested creating cross-party teams to investigate allegations of political violence. “Whenever there is a claim of an act of politically motivated violence committed, it should be very good that we form joint teams made up of the Zanu-PF and MDC so that we can establish the veracity of these claims,” Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said last month.
Source: The BBC
Reference: Zimbabwe’s history and relationship with Mugabe
To understand Zimbabwe’s contemporary situation requires an overview of the past century of the country’s history and the long, tyrannous reign of Robert Mugabe.
Source: findingDulcinea
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