Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and several of his top lieutenants were detained by police on Wednesday in the approach to a key run-off presidential election on June 27, his party said.
“He has been taken into a charge office in Lupane” in south-western Zimbabwe, chief Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said.
“It’s the whole entourage of the president, including his security personnel and other senior party officials.”
Others arrested included the party’s deputy leader, Thokozani Khupe, and MDC chairperson Lovemore Moyo.
“They have not given us any reason for the arrest,” added Chamisa. “The police just said our bosses want to see you.”
The MDC said in a statement that Tsvangirai had initially been stopped by police on a slip road while driving in the Lupane area and held for about two hours before being transferred to the police station.
Four MDC lawmakers have been arrested in the lead-up to the election at the end of the month, when Tsvangirai is looking to topple President Robert Mugabe, who has steered the Southern African nation for 28 years.
A leader of a breakaway MDC faction, Arthur Mutambara, was arrested on Sunday over an opinion piece that was heavily critical of 84-year-old Mugabe’s rule of the former British colony.
The party also says that 58 of its supporters have been killed by pro-Mugabe militias in recent weeks.
The MDC has faced severe restrictions in its campaigning efforts and Tsvangirai has been largely prevented from addressing party rallies.
During a visit to the southern city of Bulawayo on Tuesday, Tsvangirai said: “Mugabe is determined to turn the whole country into a war zone in order to subvert the will of the people and steal the June 27 election by any means possible.
“But we will not stop campaigning, the people will not stop supporting the MDC and together we will defeat this illegitimate and desperate regime.”
Tsvangirai has been arrested on a number of occasions and twice been charged with treason.
The former union leader suffered head injuries in March last year after being assaulted by the security forces as he tried to stage an anti-government rally in the capital, Harare.
Tsvangirai is only participating in the run-off election on June 27 under protest, insisting he won an outright majority in the first round in March.
Official results from the electoral commission gave Tsvangirai 47,9% of the votes against Mugabe’s 43,2%.
Mugabe himself is currently in Rome to attend a United Nations food agency summit. He used his speech at the Food and Agriculture Organisation meeting on Tuesday to accuse the West of trying to bring about “illegal regime change” in Zimbabwe.
‘The situation is ugly’
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe has ordered aid groups Save the Children UK, Care International and Adra to stop work in the country immediately, the director of a national NGO association said on Wednesday.
The government has sent letters to the groups issuing the orders, said Cephas Zinhumwe, chief executive of the National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (Nango).
Zinhumwe said he had met with the three organisations he named as being sent the letters.
“If we continue like this, we are going to have a crisis,” he said. “The situation is ugly.”
However, Save the Children said it had not been ordered by the Zimbabwean authorities to stop work in the country, but only to temporarily halt operations in one area.
“Save the Children has not been told to suspend work across Zimbabwe,” the organisation’s spokesperson, Sarah Jacobs, said in a statement.
“We have been asked temporarily to suspend work in Binga district, where we have been providing support for 60 000 children. Save the Children is continuing to work in other areas of Zimbabwe.”
Many Zimbabweans, particularly in rural areas, rely on food aid due to shortages of basic commodities such as cooking oil and cornmeal.
Nango had earlier issued a statement saying several unnamed organisations had been ordered to cease operations over accusations that they campaigned for the opposition ahead of the upcoming presidential run-off election.
The association said it was “deeply disturbed by the fact that several NGOs, including those in the humanitarian sector, have been banned from delivering humanitarian assistance and other crucial services they are registered to deliver”.
The one-time breadbasket of Southern Africa is now short of even the most basic foodstuffs, with most people surviving on two meals a day.
Critics say President Robert Mugabe’s chaotic land-reform programme in 2000 led to the crisis, while Mugabe says a combination of drought, Western sanctions and unscrupulous businesses are to blame. — AFP