Harare
25 April 2008
In an unprecedented move against Zimbabwe's political opposition, police have arrested hundreds of opposition supporters at the headquarters of the Movement for Democratic Change. The police claim they were looking for the party's election data from the March 29 polls. Peta Thornycroft reports from Harare that the police also raided the offices of a non-governmental group that promotes the democratic process, apparently looking for its election data.
It presented information after the elections and claimed its presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai defeated President Robert Mugabe by about eight percent. The country's Electoral Commission has still not released official results of the presidential election, held at the end of March.
The MDC won a narrow majority in the parliamentary poll which took place on the same day. Some of those results have undergone a recount.
Across town, the police also raided the offices of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network,a coalition of non-governmental groups promoting free elections. The Network's computers and data were taken away.
Noel Kututwa, the chairman, now in hiding, confirmed the raid in a text message to VOA.
The Support Network has presented interim data, claiming MDC victories in all four elections last month -- presidential, parliamentary, senate and local polls. It has still to present its final assessment of the presidential vote, based on data from its own observers and other monitors.
Meanwhile, Nobel Peace laureate Desmond Tutu has called on southern African leaders to urge President Mugabe to step down. Archbishop Tutu spoke on national television in South Africa.
"I am calling on African leaders to persuade Mr. Mugabe to step down and say to him that he does still have the chance of redeeming, of salvaging some of his legacy," he said. "If he continues and remains as obdurate as he appears to be, clearly people are going to be saying no, he must ultimately be arraigned for all of the human rights violations he has perpetrated. But he still has the opportunity, many of us would say, give him the chance of a soft landing."
Questions sent to the police commissioner and security ministers went unanswered on Friday. The MDC's top officials and administrators are mostly in detention, and many of its legislators are in hiding.