Zimbabwe opposition leader Tsvangirai arrested

[maddezmom]

Source: Reuters

Zimbabwe opposition leader Tsvangirai arrested 16 minutes ago



HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was arrested with other members of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) on Wednesday after police stormed the party's headquarters, officials said.

(Advertisement)
Witnesses said armed riot police surrounded and then entered the building in downtown Harare where the MDC leadership had been due to hold a news conference.

"President Morgan Tsvangirai, who was scheduled to give a press conference on the escalating and systemic campaign of violence and intimidation undertaken by the (President Robert) Mugabe government in recent days, was among those taken away," the party said in a statement.

MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti said all of the MDC officials inside the building were arrested, but it was unclear whether they had been transferred into police custody.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070328/wl_nm/zimbabwe_opposition_tsvangirai_dc

[maddezmom]

1. Zimbabwe: Security Forces Extend Crackdown to Public

Zimbabwe: Security Forces Extend Crackdown to Public
28 Mar 2007 15:26:37 GMT
Source: Human Rights Watch

(Johannesburg, March 28, 2007) ? The government of Zimbabwe has permitted security forces to commit serious abuses with impunity against opposition activists and ordinary Zimbabweans alike, Human Rights Watch said today. Security forces are responsible for arbitrary arrests and detentions and beatings of opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) supporters, civil society activists, and the general public. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of state are meeting today at an extraordinary summit in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania to discuss, among other issues, the political situation in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is scheduled to attend the meeting. Human Rights Watch called on the sub-regional organization to take strong measures to address the escalating crisis.

"The government of Zimbabwe has intensified its brutal suppression of its own citizens in an effort to crush all forms of dissent," said Georgette Gagnon, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "The crackdown shows the government has extended its attack on political dissent to ordinary Zimbabweans, which should prompt the SADC to act quickly."

Human Rights Watch recently spent two weeks in Zimbabwe interviewing many victims of abuse and witnesses to the political unrest in the cities of Harare, Bulawayo and Mutare. Witnesses and victims from Harare's high-density suburbs of Glenview, Highfield and Mufakose told Human Rights Watch that for the past few weeks police forces patrolling these locations have randomly and viciously beaten Zimbabweans in the streets, shopping malls, and in bars and beer halls.

more:http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HRW/59d1e3428a40ea896b43a84a6c0b2eed.htm

[robcon]

2. Tsvangirai will be dead within a couple of days.

Mugabe doesn't play around - he takes his despotism seriously.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

3. I fear that will be his fate

If Mugabe feels that international diplomacy won't challenge him then he will continue his purging of opposition in Zimbabwe.

[1932]

10. You know that he sat at a table at which the murder of Mugabe was discussed

when he ran against Mugabe a few years ago. His british campaign advisers videotaped the discussion and gave the tape to Mugabe. They set Tsvengerai up. They were hoping that Mugabe would arrest him, call off the election and execute Tsvengerai, which would be the only way to create a rebellion against Mugabe, since he was going to win the election.

Instead, Tsvengerai was booked, released on bail, and the election went on. Later, Tsvengerai was acquitted (because the tape made it obvious that he was being set up).

So, if Tsvengerai was going to be murdered by the government, it would have happened a long time ago. If he gets murdered in the next few weeks, the suspects would be the same people who tried to throw him to the lions a couple years ago -- the people who are trying to get Mugabe out of office.

[Eugene]

4. Zimbabwe's Tsvangirai freed after detention: police

Source: Reuters

Zimbabwe's Tsvangirai freed after detention: police

By MacDonald Dzirutwe
1 hour, 45 minutes ago

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
was briefly detained by police at his party headquarters on
Wednesday and 10 other activists were arrested.

Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said Tsvangirai, who leads the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), had not been
arrested. Ten MDC officials were arrested on suspicion of being
connected with a spate of petrol bombings.

-snip-

A witness told Reuters he had seen Tsvangirai leaving his offices
after the police had left on Wednesday.

"I would like to put it on record that Tsvangirai was never
arrested," Bvudzijena told journalists.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070328/wl_nm/zimbabwe_dc_4

---

Source: Reuters

Britain urges Security Council to act on Zimbabwe
28 Mar 2007 17:38:09 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS, March 28 (Reuters) - Britain urged the U.N. Security
Council and a Southern African summit on Wednesday to reprimand
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe over his country's deteriorating
human rights and humanitarian situation.

-snip-

The European Union president Germany said it was "deeply concerned"
at the arrest of opposition politicians, while the European Parliament
said it was time to end the "brutality."

But South Africa's U.N. Ambassador, Dumisani Kumalo, the council
president for March, has said the situation in Zimbabwe is not a threat
to international peace and security and therefore should not be dealt
with by the Security Council.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N28409986.htm

[Anarcho-Socialist]

5. That's a relief

I wonder if South Africa put pressure on Zimbabwe behind the scenes

[robcon]

6. Good news.

I never expected this. I suspect there's more to this story - but we'll see,

[Anarcho-Socialist]

7. delete

[ellisonz]

8. Crazy?

:evilfrown:

[ellisonz]

9. Let's pray they aren't murdered/turned into a vegetable.

One beating wasn't enough apparently:grr:

[maddezmom]

11. No sign of Zimbabwe opposition leader

No sign of Zimbabwe opposition leader By ANGUS SHAW, Associated Press Writer
37 minutes ago



HARARE, Zimbabwe - Police denied they arrested Zimbabwe's main opposition leader, but his whereabouts remained unknown Thursday, a day after they stormed his party's headquarters in a new crackdown on resistance to President Robert Mugabe.


The raid came shortly before Mugabe left for Tanzania to attend an emergency meeting of southern African leaders about the crisis in Zimbabwe. A ruling party spokesman said Mugabe planned to brief the meeting about the arrests of activists.

On Wednesday, Morgan Tsvangirai was detained along with other Mugabe opponents as he prepared to talk to reporters about a wave of political violence that left him briefly hospitalized, said his aide, Eliphas Mukonoweshuro.

He said police sealed off approaches to the Movement for Democratic Change headquarters and fired tear gas to drive away onlookers before taking Tsvangirai and the others away in a bus.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070329/ap_on_re_af/zimbabwe;_ylt=AizEqtxByE9RsIyOAKOr7s296Q8F

[Eugene]

12. Zimbabwean Opposition Leader Released (party says to AP)

Source: Associated Press

Zimbabwean Opposition Leader Released
Zimbabwe's Main Opposition Leader Freed After Being Held
By Police, His Party Says

HARARE, Zimbabwe, Mar. 29, 2007

(AP) The country's main opposition leader was freed after being held
by police for several hours, party officials said Thursday, as southern
African leaders gathered in Tanzania to discuss the crisis in Zimbabwe.

Police denied arresting Morgan Tsvangirai Wednesday as he prepared
to talk to reporters about a wave of political violence that left him briefly
hospitalized earlier this month.

"It doesn't matter how long he was deprived of his freedom, he was still
arrested," Tsvangirai's aide, Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, told The Associated
Press Thursday.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/03/29/ap/world/main2622317.shtml

[maddezmom]

13. thanks for the update

:hi: