/ 6 January 2001

18 ARRESTED IN PRE-ELECTORAL VIOLENCE

AT least 18 people have been arrested in a rural district in southern Zimbabwe in pre-election violence that has left at least one person dead, police said. Among those held are members of both the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and the ruling Zanu-PF. Political tension in the Bikita-West constituency has shot up since the stabbing death of an alleged ZANU-PF supporter in the run-up to parliamentary by-elections due on January 13 and 14. – AFP