Dutch Foreign Ministry: Tsvangirai seeks refuge
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - June 23, 2008 Morgan Tsvangirai went to the embassy Sunday shortly after
announcing he was withdrawing from Friday's presidential runoff
against longtime leader Robert Mugabe, citing violence against
opposition supporters, a Dutch Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
"He asked to come and stay because he was concerned about his
safety," ministry spokesman Rob Dekker said. There has been no
request for political asylum, Dekker said.
Opposition spokesman Nqobizitha Mlilo refused to comment on the
report and referred callers to The Hague.
Mugabe's government says Friday's runoff will go ahead and
Tsvangirai's name remains on the ballot.
Tsvangirai won the first round of the presidential election on
March 29, but did not gain an outright majority against 84-year-old
Mugabe. That campaign was generally peaceful, but the runoff has
been overshadowed by violence and intimidation, especially in rural
areas. Independent human rights groups say 85 people have died and
tens of thousands have been displaced from their homes, most of
them opposition supporters.
Tsvangirai had returned to Zimbabwe a month ago to campaign
despite information his party had said it received that he was the
target of a state-sponsored assassination plot.
Since then, his top deputy has been arrested on treason charges
- which carry the death penalty - and Tsvangirai has been
repeatedly detained by police.
At a news conference in Harare late Monday, Zimbabwe's police
commissioner, Augustin Chihuri, said neither Tsvangirai nor his
party had come to police to report any threats, and that police
were not seeking the politician.
"Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai is under no threat at all from
Zimbabweans and he should cast away these delusions," Chihuri
said. "Zimbabwe is a peaceful country and this will remain so."
Tsvangirai has survived at least three assassination attempts
and last year he was hospitalized after a brutal assault by police
at a prayer rally. Images seen around the world of his bruised and
swollen face have come to symbolize the plight of dissenters in
Zimbabwe.
He had applied for a new passport earlier this month and
Zimbabwean officials refused, saying he lacked proper police
clearance. His current passport has not expired but its pages are
full.
On Sunday, he pulled out of the violence-wracked presidential
runoff, declaring that the election was no longer credible and the
loss of life among his supporters was simply too high.
The prospect of a sham election drew strong criticism from the
international community.
"The Mugabe regime cannot be considered legitimate in the
absence of a runoff," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in
a statement. "In forsaking the most basic tenet of governance, the
protection of its people, the government of Zimbabwe must be held
accountable by the international community."
Western powers outraged at the turmoil in Zimbabwe began pushing
Monday for the U.N. Security Council to condemn the violence and
insist on a fair presidential election.
Britain and France were joining the U.S. in seeking a council
statement of condemnation on the Zimbabwe violence. They expect
opposition from Zimbabwe's two biggest trading partners, South
Africa and China. On Monday, Dumisani Kumalo, South Africa's
ambassador to the U.N., said his nation was taking a wait-and-see
approach to the council's deliberations.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also planned to hold an
urgent briefing for reporters on the situation in Zimbabwe on
Monday afternoon.
But Zimbabwe's longtime, increasingly autocratic ruler has shown
little concern for the world's opinion - his police entered
opposition headquarters Monday even as foreign election observers
watched.
Movement for Democratic Change spokesman Nelson Chamisa said
most of the people taken away from party headquarters were women
and children seeking refuge after fleeing state-sponsored political
violence. He said police also seized computers and furniture.
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said police took 39 people
from the opposition headquarters as part of an investigation into
political violence. He said they had been taken to what he called a
"rehabilitation center" for interviews.
After a similar raid in April, police detained scores of people
they accused of being responsible for postelection violence. A
court later released them.
Roy Bennett, treasurer of Tsvangirai's party, told The
Associated Press in Johannesburg, South Africa that the party was
not turning its back on elections.
He called on the Southern African Development Community and the
African Union to launch negotiations aimed at bringing members of
the opposition and moderate members of Mugabe's ZANU-PF party
together in a transitional authority that would create conditions
for free and fair presidential voting.
"We honestly believe that we will move forward to a new round"
of elections, Bennett said.
He said Mugabe would not be welcome on the transitional
authority or in a future government.
The issue of Mugabe's role is believed to have derailed previous
attempts to resolve Mugabe's crisis by creating a coalition
government. But Bennett said ZANU-PF would have to yield now in the
face of growing international pressure. ZANU-PF, he said, risked
being "totally isolated and totally rejected by the African
countries as well as the world at large."
South African President Thabo Mbeki has been mediating between
Mugabe and Tsvangirai for more than a year under Southern African
Development Community auspices. Bennett, though, appeared to be
calling for a new initiative. The Movement for Democratic Change
has said Mbeki should step down, accusing him of bias in Mugabe's
favor.
Mbeki's spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga said a South African
negotiating team was in Zimbabwe Monday. But Bennett said
negotiations could not open until state-sponsored violence ended
and Tendai Biti, the party's secretary-general, who has been jailed
on treason charges since June 12, was released.
Mbeki has steadfastly refused to criticize Mugabe, saying
confronting him could close the door to talks. But other African
leaders have shown increasing unease, and South Africa was under
pressure to speak out.
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, who currently holds the
rotating chair of the Southern African Development Community, said
Sunday a "catastrophe" was looming in Zimbabwe. He expressed
frustration with Mbeki, saying he had been unable to reach him in
recent days and complaining he was not sharing information about
his mediation efforts.
---
Associated Press writers Arthur Max in Amsterdam, Netherlands
and John Heilprin at the United Nations contributed to this report.