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Mugabe foe sees growing defiance in Zimbabwe

19 Feb 2007 16:25:00 GMT
Source: Reuters

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Zimbabwe opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai waves to supporters as he arrives at a party congress in the capital Harare, Zimbabwe, March 18, 2006.
REUTERS/Stringer

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(Recasts with MDC leader)

By Cris Chinaka

HARARE, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's main opposition leader said on Monday the fight against President Robert Mugabe had reached a new level, a day after police crushed an opposition rally to prevent anti-government protests from spreading.

Heavily armed riot squads stopped the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) from holding a court-approved rally in the capital Harare on Sunday, firing teargas and water cannons at stone-throwing protesters and arresting 122 people.

"May I take the opportunity to place on record a growing mood of defiance evident in the past week as our struggle for change takes a new turn," Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the MDC, said in a statement.

"Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF (party) are at their weakest. We must express ourselves out of the crisis through action. We have had enough. We say thus far and no further," he added.

Political analysts said the crackdown on the opposition had stoked tensions in the country, where people are struggling with a deep economic crisis, marked by surging unemployment and chronic shortages of fuel, food and foreign exchange.

The European Union on Monday extended sanctions on Zimbabwe for another year, including an arms embargo, travel ban and asset freeze on Mugabe and his top officials over the charges of rights violations.

The sanctions were initially triggered by the government's controversial distribution of white-owned commercial farms to mainly landless blacks and Mugabe's disputed 2002 re-election.

On Monday, riot squads on foot and in armoured trucks were still patrolling the streets of Harare's Highfield township as well as its city centre, but in smaller numbers than on Sunday.

Police armed with guns, rubber batons, shields, and teargas canisters were on guard at the poor township's main shopping mall, traditionally a flashpoint for political clashes.

"It's quiet here, but you can see there that they are not quite sure yet," one resident told a Reuters journalist, nodding towards a police patrol.

RALLY WORRIED AUTHORITIES

The High Court on Saturday ordered the government to allow the MDC to hold its rally, rejecting police arguments that they needed more time to find the manpower to monitor it.

State media suggested the authorities were worried that the MDC wanted to use the event to launch a wave of anti-government protests, and stopped it "for security and political reasons".

The media said the rally was to be part of a British-backed drive "to galvanise the regime-change lobby" and embarrass Mugabe, who turns 83 this week and will celebrate his birthday at a huge party organised by his governing ZANU-PF on Saturday.

Eldred Masunungure, a political science professor at the University of Zimbabwe, said the government's heavy-handed approach toward the opposition and its decision to ignore a court order had damaged its image at home and abroad.

"Both here and internationally, they are reinforcing the impression that they are in trouble, and the use or show of force is just going to worsen the tension, it's adding fuel to the fire," Masunungure said.

The MDC had planned to use the rally to launch its presidential election campaign. The election is due in March 2008, but Mugabe's ZANU-PF party plans to put it off until 2010 to coincide with parliamentary elections.

The MDC says Zimbabwe cannot afford an extended Mugabe rule, charging that the man who has led the country since independence from Britain in 1980 is to blame for the economic crisis.

Along with the world's highest inflation rate at about 1,600 percent , Zimbabwe has seen unemployment climb to 80 percent.

The veteran leader says Zimbabwe is the victim of economic sabotage by his enemies. (Additional reporting by Ingrid Melander in Brussels)

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Last updated:Mon Feb 19 20:04:05 2007