http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/Zimbabwe/0,,2-11-1662_2312370,00.html


Zim election observers raided
25/04/2008 17:38  - (SA)   

Harare - Independent election observers in Zimbabwe say police have raided
their offices, striking at the same time as security forces descended on
opposition headquarters.

Police seized material on vote counting from both offices. In addition, some
200 people were beaten, shoved and arrested in the raid on the opposition
headquarters, according to party officials.

Zimbabweans are still awaiting official results from the March 29
presidential election amid charges that President Robert Mugabe is using
violence and stealth to hold on to power.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change and the independent Zimbabwe
Electoral Support Network both claim the opposition won the poll, based on
their own surveys of results posted at ballot stations.


 

 

 

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/Zimbabwe/0,,2-11-1662_2312303,00.html

Harare - Armed riot police raided the headquarters of Zimbabwe's main
opposition party on Friday and detained scores of people in the biggest
crackdown on the MDC since elections last month, officials said.

The Movement for Democratic Change says it defeated President Robert Mugabe
in the March 29 elections as well as ending his party's 28-year hold on
parliament.

A delay to the presidential result and a recount of some parliamentary votes
have brought growing international pressure on Mugabe, 84, and stoked fears
of bloodshed in a country already suffering an economic collapse.

Dozens of riot police detained around 100 MDC supporters who were bundled
into a crowded police bus before being taken away, a Reuters witness said.

MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said among those detained were supporters
who had come to the party headquarters after being hurt in what the
opposition calls a post-election campaign of violence by Mugabe's followers.


"They took everyone in the building, including those who had come just to
seek medical care. They are trying to destroy evidence of their brutality,"
Chamisa told Reuters.

He said police also took some computers.

Police said the raid targeted people who had sought refuge at the opposition
headquarters after having "committed crimes" outside Harare.

"Some of them are not office workers at all. We are busy screening them.
There are some cases we are investigating and we will release those who have
not committed any crime," said police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena said.

Mugabe, a hero of the struggle for independence, accuses the opposition of
conspiring with his Western critics to bring him down but he has also faced
growing pressure from southern African neighbours over the election
deadlock.

'Myopic stooges'

Zimbabwe's state-run Herald newspaper on Friday called African leaders
"myopic stooges" for joining the Western criticism of Zimbabwe's handling of
the election.

In an unprecedented move by a region growing increasingly impatient with
Mugabe, Zimbabwe's neighbours refused this week to let a Chinese ship unload
weapons for his country amid the election deadlock. China said the ship
would head home.

"The attempt to link the shipment to the post-election environment should
convince sceptics of the lengths to which the Westerners and their lackeys
will go to manufacture a crisis in Zimbabwe," The Herald said.

The top US diplomat for Africa, Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer,
said on Thursday the United States backed calls from former colonial ruler
Britain for an arms embargo to put pressure on Mugabe.

"Zimbabwe is ... under attack from the former coloniser and its allies. As
such, Zimbabwe probably needs to arm itself more than any other country in
Africa today for the simple reason that it has been targeted for
destabilisation by the traditional Western rabble rousers," the Herald said.


MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has said he won the presidential poll and
accused Mugabe of delaying results to rig victory and keep his hold over
Zimbabwe, whose economy lies in ruins with inflation of 165 000% and chronic
food and fuel shortages.

US envoy Frazer, who met with Tsvangirai on Thursday, is now due to visit
Zambia and African oil power Angola.

The recount in 23 of 210 constituencies could overturn the results of the
parliamentary election, which showed Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF losing its
majority for the first time.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission ZEC has recounted nine constituencies, and
so far all candidates who were originally declared winners have retained
their position. The full recount is expected by the weekend