Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader vowed on Friday to press on with anti-government marches and strikes next week, despite threats of a clampdown by the government and its supporters.
Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said his party’s supporters would not be deterred by threats issued by President Robert Mugabe’s government.
”Nothing is going to deter us from this action,” he said.
Tsvangirai was speaking a day after Zimbabwe’s defence forces said they would forcefully crack down on the marches if they turn violent.
The MDC is staging the marches to force Mugabe to discuss the economic and political crises in the country.
But Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said on Thursday that Tsvangirai’s call for mass action was aimed at forcing Mugabe from power, which amounted to ”high treason”.
But during a press conference on Friday, the opposition leader gave assurances that the marches would be peaceful, and the only threat of violence came from the state.
Tsvangirai claimed that Mugabe had armed groups of so-called war veterans loyal to his party, which have publicly vowed to crush the demonstrations.
”The potential of this degenerating into shooting cannot be underestimated,” Tsvangirai said.
There has been no independent confirmation of his claim.
But the opposition leader, who is already on trial for treason, said the country’s problems could not be resolved without some risk.
”Without risk there are no opportunities,” he said. ”There’s no riskier business than to allow this country to collapse. This is a matter of principle.”
Mugabe’s ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) accuses the opposition party of being a front for the interests of former colonial power Britain.
Meantime, state radio reported that thousands of Zanu-PF supporters staged anti-MDC demonstrations Friday in the party’s stronghold of Bindura town, 80km northeast of the capital. – Sapa-AFP