Zimbabwe’s Morgan Tsvangirai, who has pulled out of a presidential run-off election because of violence, sought refuge overnight in the Dutch embassy.
Zanu-PF rose to the top after Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980 by being more centralised, conspiratorial and ruthless than all its rivals.
The White House on Sunday demanded that Zimbabwe’s government and its ”thugs” halt election violence immediately.
Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew on Sunday from the June 27 presidential run-off election.
Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Sunday prepared to announce he was quitting a run-off presidential election, a party source said.
A South African mediation team was in Zimbabwe on Saturday as part of efforts to resolve the country’s political crisis.
If this is the endgame for Robert Mugabe’s regime, the brutality of the tactics employed reveal his determination to win at any cost.
”They hunt the opposition. They said they ate human liver and drank urine during the war and so they were prepared for war again.”
Zimbabwe’s neighbours closed ranks against Robert Mugabe on Thursday as violence against opposition supporters intensified and spread to new areas.
SA President Thabo Mbeki has urged Zimbabwe’s leader Robert Mugabe to cancel next week’s presidential vote and negotiate a deal with the opposition.
Jacob Zuma said he did not expect a free election run-off in Zimbabwe ahead of a meeting between President Thabo Mbeki and Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe.
The soldiers and ruling party militiamen herded the people of Rusape to a field at the back of the local sports club and made their point clear.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has accused foreign aid agencies of using food as a weapon to try to remove him from power.
A defiant President Robert Mugabe on Saturday vowed he would ”go to war” if he lost the presidential run-off due to take place in less than two weeks.
The current climate in Zimbabwe was ”not at all” the proper one for an election, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said in an interview broadcast on Tuesday.
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.
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.
A Zimbabwean court sentenced three South Africans to jail terms of between six and seven-and-a-half months after they were found in possession of ”illegal transmitting equipment” belonging to the Sky television channel, Sky said on Tuesday.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
With his rival back in the country, Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe fought for his political survival on Sunday as he kicked off his election campaign. Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai arrived home on Saturday after a six-week absence vowing to end the three decade rule of post-independence leader Mugabe in a run-off election scheduled for June 27.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai returned to Zimbabwe on Saturday for an election run-off with President Robert Mugabe and said the veteran leader wanted to ”decimate” Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) structures. Tsvangirai arrived at Harare airport aboard a regular South African Airways flight at about 10.30am GMT.
There is a growing danger of a coup by military hardliners in Zimbabwe to prevent opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai from toppling President Robert Mugabe, a leading think tank said on Wednesday. The International Crisis Group called for African mediation leading to a national unity government led by Tsvangirai as the best way to resolve the crisis.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu has called for an international peacekeeping force to be deployed in Zimbabwe to prevent any violence during a presidential run-off ballot next month. Zimbabwe is due to hold the delayed second-round ballot on June 27, when the opposition hopes to oust veteran leader Robert Mugabe.
When Gibson Nyandoro raised his arm and slowly unclenched his fist to make the open-palmed salute of Zimbabwe’s opposition at a rally eight weeks ago, it was a moment so loaded with symbolism that it stilled the crowd. This weekend, Nyandoro’s body lies rotting near the army barracks where he was tortured to death.
Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai will not return to Zimbabwe on Saturday, fearing an assassination attempt, an MDC spokesperson said. Tsvangirai had been expected to return home on Saturday ahead of a run-off election scheduled for June 27.