Government Forces Move Against Opposition in Zimbabwe
By Joseph Catapano
April 3, 2008 | Printer Friendly

Zimbabwe in Context: Extensive background information on the situation in Zimbabwe

In a violent turn of events, Zimbabwe government forces aligned with President Robert Mugabe encircled and raided offices of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), their main opposition today, arresting several foreign journalists in the process.

“Mugabe has started a crackdown,” said MDC General Secretary Tendai Biti. “It is quite clear he has unleashed war.”

Opposition leader, and presidential candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai was said to be safe; he cancelled a scheduled news conference today. Tsvangirai and Mugabe are likely to participate in a runoff election for the country’s top office; however, delays in the release of official results from Saturday’s election have many concerned about the vote’s legitimacy.

“We need to see an official tally, see it soon, and have assurances made that this is actually a correct counting of votes,” said U.S. State Department Spokesman Tom Casey. “Delays raise serious questions in our minds about what is going on in the vote counting.”

Mugabe’s party already lost control of the Parliament earlier this week; he was shown meeting with African Union election observers today, which was his first public appearance since the Presidential election.

“President Mugabe is going to fight. He is not going anywhere. He has not lost,” said Bright Matonga, Mugabe’s deputy information minister. “We are going to go hard and fight and get the majority required.”

Reference:

The Washington Post: Zimbabwe Opposition Office Raided