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Zimbabwe opposition leader to return for election runoff
May 10, 2008
PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
said Saturday that he will return to his homeland despite threats to his life to
take part in a runoff against President Robert Mugabe.
Tsvangirai, addressing reporters in the capital of neighboring South Africa,
said his supporters would feel "betrayed" if he did not face Zimbabwe's ruler of
28 years.
"A runoff election could finally knock out the dictator for good," Tsvangirai
said. "I am ready and the people are ready for the final round."
No runoff date has been set. Tsvangirai said Saturday it should be held within
21 days of the May 2 announcement of presidential results, but Zimbabwean
government officials have said the electoral commission has up to a year to hold
the vote.
Tsvangirai said he will return shortly to Zimbabwe and intends to "begin a
victory tour." He maintains he won the first round outright and that official
figures showing a second round was necessary were fraudulent.
Opposition officials and independent human rights activists have accused Mugabe
of orchestrating violence against the opposition since the first round on March
29. Tsvangirai and other top opposition figures have stayed out of Zimbabwe
since the initial voting.
"If this is going to be a successful runoff, opposition leaders and supporters
must be able to freely campaign free of violence," said Gordon Johndroe, a
spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council. "We would like to see election
monitors — U.N. human rights monitors to ensure we have a safe electoral process
there."
Tsvangirai left soon after the news conference for a meeting in Luanda with
President Jose Eduardo dos Santos of Angola, who heads the Southern African
Development Community election observer mission.
Observers inside and outside Zimbabwe have questioned whether a second round of
voting could be free and fair with the opposition unable to campaign freely
because of attacks and threats. Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF, meanwhile, already has
launched its runoff campaign.
Tapiwa Mudiwa, a 26-year-old supporter of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change, was skeptical Saturday.
"How are we going to campaign in the runoff as MDC supporters?" Mudiwa said in
Harare, the Zimbabwean capital. "We can't wear MDC T-shirts. We fear we can't
even go for rallies. Cars are being burned."
Tsvangirai acknowledged the risks and said another election "may bring more
violence." But consultations with a wide range of Zimbabweans had convinced him
they wanted him to run.
"They believe that we as a nation are brave enough, we are strong enough and we
are angry enough to fight an election once again," he said. "We believe our
people would feel betrayed if we shied away from the final knock out."
The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights has said 22 people have
died and 900 tortured in postelection violence, while 40,000 farmworkers have
been displaced in an effort to prevent them from voting in the run-off.
Tsvangirai said the violence, intended to "decimate" his party's election
machinery, had had "some effect" but not disabled it. "We are going to ensure
that we make the necessary preparations to overcome those obstacles," he said.
He called for SADC to ensure the runoff was held free of violence and monitored
by regional peacekeepers, with unfettered access for international observers and
journalists, many of whom were barred during the first round. He also said a new
electoral commission should be established for the vote. These are "the optimum
conditions" under which the runoff should be held.
"But we have stated that we are going to run," he said at the news conference,
which also was attended by other top officials of his party.
Tsvangirai acknowledged some in Zimbabwe may have felt he had abandoned them.
There have been persistent rumors he had gone into exile, though he has
maintained he was traveling only to rally international support for democracy in
Zimbabwe and always planned to return.
Fisher Murambatsvina, a 28-year-old MDC activist, said it was risky for
Tsvangirai to return.
Tsvangirai, a former trade union leader, has survived three assassination
attempts, including a 1997 attempt by unidentified assailants to throw him from
a 10th floor window. Last year, he was hospitalized after a brutal assault by
police at a prayer rally, and images seen around the world of his bruised and
swollen face have come to symbolize the challenge dissenters face in his
homeland.
"They beat him up before and this may happen again, just to break him down,"
Murambatsvina said Saturday in Harare. "It's risky for Morgan Tsvangirai to come
back. The army is in charge. Right now, I don't think he will be safe if he is
coming to start his campaign."
Mugabe, 84, has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980 and once was hailed
for promoting racial reconciliation and bringing education and health care to
the black majority. But in recent years he has been accused of holding onto
power through elections that independent observers say were marred by fraud,
intimidation and rigging, and of overseeing his country's economic collapse.
"Mugabe was once my hero, too," Tsvangirai said Saturday. "It is very, very sad
for me to call Mugabe a former liberator. It is sad for me to say that he has
turned his back on both his people and his continent."
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Source: The Associated Press
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