Zimbabwe police said on Wednesday they had arrested 10 opposition supporters during a raid on the offices of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) but denied leader Morgan Tsvangirai had been detained.
”We never arrested him,” police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena told reporters after the MDC said Tsvangirai had been among a group of about 20 party activists who had been arrested.
Bvudzijena said that the raid on the party headquarters in downtown Harare was part of an investigation into several firebombings in the last few days, which the police have blamed on the opposition.
Twenty-five people had been arrested on Tuesday and 10 during the raid on Wednesday, he added.
Earlier on Wednesday, an MDC party spokesperson said that Tsvangirai was arrested in the raid.
”All members of staff and Morgan Tsvangirai have been arrested,” the party’s secretary general, Tendai Biti, said.
”At least 20 people were in the office at the time,” Biti added.
Summit
Meanwhile, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe arrived in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on Wednesday to attend a summit of Southern African leaders to discuss the crisis in his country.
The emergency two-day summit of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC), hosted by Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, was called amid a growing global outcry over turmoil in Zimbabwe.
The 14-nation SADC is a regional bloc promoting development and democracy in the region.
Three SADC countries currently charged with dealing with Zimbabwe — Tanzania, Namibia and Angola — were due to meet later on Wednesday ahead of the full summit, a Tanzanian Foreign Ministry official said.
”The troika is scheduled to meet this evening to discuss the latest developments before briefing the presidents,” the official said, asking not to be named.
The SADC summit was also expected to address the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after deadly clashes last week between the military and militia loyal to former vice-president and ex-rebel chief Jean Pierre Bemba, which claimed between 200 to 500 lives, according to the German ambassador in Kinshasa.
DRC President Joseph Kabila arrived in Tanzania for the summit on Wednesday, after speculation that he would not attend.
While Western nations have sharply condemned the Zimbabwean leader since opposition leaders were arrested and then assaulted ahead of a planned anti-government rally earlier this month, SADC countries have been more muted in their response, even though they have most to lose from the fall-out. — AFP
