The Zimbabwean government on Friday banned the opposition presidential candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, from holding political rallies.
Zimbabwean police on Friday detained opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai for the second time this week after blocking him from reaching a campaign rally for the June 27 presidential run-off vote.
Zimbabwe’s harassment of diplomats and aid groups shows it will fail to respect the rule of law during the June 27 presidential election run-off, the country’s main opposition party said on Friday.
Zimbabwe’s opposition presidential candidate resumed campaigning on Thursday, the morning after he spent nine hours in police detention.
Zimbabwe’s presidential election run-off should be scrapped to prevent further bloodshed, the ruling-party defector who came third in the first round said on Thursday.
Zimbabwe authorities intensified a pre-poll crackdown on Wednesday, detaining the opposition chief for several hours.
Recent reports that President Thabo Mbeki had received a scathing letter from the Zimbabwe opposition leader could be part of a disinformation campaign, the Presidency said on Wednesday.
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.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is to send up to 400 observers to this month’s run-off poll in Zimbabwe, double the number who oversaw the first round.
The aid group Care International said on Tuesday the Zimbabwean government has halted its operations in the country for allegedly campaigning for the opposition
President Robert Mugabe’s government is using food as a weapon ahead of Zimbabwe’s June 27 presidential run-off election, United States-based group Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.
Civil and human rights groups predicted more chaos after Zimbabwe’s presidential run-off takes place, saying on Tuesday they do not believe President Robert Mugabe will step down if he loses. However, it is ”critical” for the election to go ahead so a winner can emerge, said Gorden Moyo, from Bulawayo Agenda.
The leader of a rebel faction of Zimbabwe’s main opposition party was freed on bail on Tuesday after his arrest over a written attack on President Robert Mugabe. A Harare court ordered Arthur Mutambara, head of a splinter faction of the Movement for Democratic Change, to pay Z-billion (about ) and report to police each Friday.
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe made a surprise appearance on Monday at a world food summit in Rome, drawing fierce criticism from the British government. In his first official trip abroad since elections in March, Mugabe attended the summit organised by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation.
Britain criticised as obscene the presence of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe at this week’s global food summit in Rome, saying he had inflicted shortages on millions of his own people by his ”profound misrule”. Mugabe flew into Rome late on Sunday, making his first official trip abroad since elections condemned by Western leaders as fraudulent.
Zimbabwean police have arrested at least 70 suspects following attacks on liberation war veterans and ruling-party activists in the Buhera district, a state daily reported on Monday. ”So far more than 70 suspects have been arrested in connection with the cases,” police Deputy Commissioner General Levy Sibanda was quoted as saying by the Herald.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe flew into Rome for a global food summit on Sunday, his first official trip abroad since elections condemned by Western and opposition leaders as fraudulent. A British Foreign Office spokesperson said: ”It is a matter of concern to us and we would prefer that he did not attend.”
The Zimbabwean opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has told President Thabo Mbeki that he is no longer fit to serve as the region’s mediator in Zimbabwe’s political crisis owing to a ”lack of neutrality”, and that ”there will be no country left” if Mbeki continues to side with President Robert Mugabe.
The leader of a rebel faction of Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change became the most senior opposition politician to be arrested when he was held on Sunday over a written attack on President Robert Mugabe. Arthur Mutambara was picked up at his home in Harare, his party and lawyer said.
Authorities began setting up tents at displacement sites in Johannesburg on Saturday to shelter some of the thousands of foreigners who fled a recent wave of xenophobic attacks. The death toll from the attacks across South Africa has risen to 62, with 670 injured, said national police spokesperson Sally de Beer.
Hundreds of women converged on a stadium on the outskirts of Harare on Saturday to pray for peace ahead of the country’s tense presidential run-off amid mounting political violence. Zimbabweans go to the polls on June 27 for a second-round presidential election between President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe’s opposition leader, claimed on Friday that President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party no longer ruled the country. This is technically true. The Movement for Democratic Change won a majority of seats in Parliament after the first round of elections on March 29.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai launched a scathing attack on President Robert Mugabe’s rule of Zimbabwe on Friday, saying he had transformed a country rich in natural resources into a ”state of despair”. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) chief also vowed there would be no amnesty for perpetrators of political violence if he takes power.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe will never vacate his office for opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai even if he loses a run-off election next month, his wife said Thursday. Grace Mugabe told followers of her husband’s Zanu-PF party that Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change would not be allowed to take power under any circumstances.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said on Thursday his government had bought 600 000 tonnes of maize to ease food shortages ahead of a June 27 presidential election run-off. Zimbabwe, once home to a prosperous agricultural sector, is suffering chronic food shortages.
Simba Makoni, the former finance minister who defected from President Robert Mugabe’s party to challenge him in presidential elections in March, refused on Thursday to say which candidate he would back in next month’s presidential run-off.
Africa is in need of a ”green revolution” to combat a growing food crisis on the continent, former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan said in a speech in London on Wednesday. The Ghanaian diplomat also said that more needed to be done to deal with the impact climate change would have on food supplies in Africa.
The United Nations’s top human rights official on Wednesday issued a strong condemnation of the killing of opposition political activists in Zimbabwe. ”It is hard to get a very precise picture of the full range of the violence, or the exact number of politically motivated extra-judicial killings,” said Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Diplomatic ties between Zimbabwe and the United States came under further strain on Wednesday when authorities in Harare accused Washington’s envoy to South Africa of sneaking into the country. An unnamed government official said he was "interested" in discovering the reason for the visit.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is to send a beefed-up observer mission for Zimbabwe’s run-off election next month to ensure "greater transparency", Angola’s Foreign Minister was quoted as saying on Monday. Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been lobbying the 14-nation SADC to send more observers.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe will respect the will of voters if they end his 28-year rule in a run-off election against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, the state-run Herald newspaper reported on Monday. Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in the March 29 presidential poll but failed to win an absolute majority.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Sunday accused the United States of political interference and threatened to expel its ambassador, as his party began its campaign for next month’s election run-off. He told supporters in Harare that the Western allies wanted to control Zimbabwe’s resources.