MDC: no "run-off" amidst violence
Zimbabwe opposition rejects presidential run-off
Reuters Africa 9/5/2008
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's opposition MDC will not participate in a presidential run-off against Robert Mugabe, a top party official said on Thursday, after reports of escalating violence deepened a post-election crisis ... "Our official position still remains the same that we are not participating," MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti told reporters in Cape Town ... President Thabo Mbeki, who has been a primary regional mediator in Zimbabwe, will travel to Harare on Friday to meet political leaders. "During his visit President Mbeki is expected to interact with the Zimbabwean political leadership," said Ronnie Mamoepa ... Mbeki, who has faced a barrage of criticism for not taking a tough line with Mugabe, had said there was no crisis in his southern African neighbour. Tsvangirai has said Mbeki was no longer fit to mediate in Zimbabwe ... "We have had security agents going out to the farms, addressing the farm workers," Gertrude Hambira, general secretary of the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers' Union of Zimbabwe , told a news conference in Johannesburg. "Some of them saying that we need to discipline you because you voted for the opposition," she said adding, 400 workers were in hiding and three were in hospital after being assaulted ... Police on Thursday arrested the leaders of the country's main trade union over speeches they made during a workers' day rally last week, their lawyer said. Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) President Lovemore Matombo and Secretary-General Wellington Chibebe, who are critical of Mugabe, were taken into custody after surrendering to police ... Police have also arrested the editor of a privately owned weekly that is critical of the president ... Biti called for reconciliation and said any future government should include all parties, except for Mugabe ...
Reuters Africa 9/5/2008
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's opposition MDC will not participate in a presidential run-off against Robert Mugabe, a top party official said on Thursday, after reports of escalating violence deepened a post-election crisis ... "Our official position still remains the same that we are not participating," MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti told reporters in Cape Town ... President Thabo Mbeki, who has been a primary regional mediator in Zimbabwe, will travel to Harare on Friday to meet political leaders. "During his visit President Mbeki is expected to interact with the Zimbabwean political leadership," said Ronnie Mamoepa ... Mbeki, who has faced a barrage of criticism for not taking a tough line with Mugabe, had said there was no crisis in his southern African neighbour. Tsvangirai has said Mbeki was no longer fit to mediate in Zimbabwe ... "We have had security agents going out to the farms, addressing the farm workers," Gertrude Hambira, general secretary of the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers' Union of Zimbabwe , told a news conference in Johannesburg. "Some of them saying that we need to discipline you because you voted for the opposition," she said adding, 400 workers were in hiding and three were in hospital after being assaulted ... Police on Thursday arrested the leaders of the country's main trade union over speeches they made during a workers' day rally last week, their lawyer said. Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) President Lovemore Matombo and Secretary-General Wellington Chibebe, who are critical of Mugabe, were taken into custody after surrendering to police ... Police have also arrested the editor of a privately owned weekly that is critical of the president ... Biti called for reconciliation and said any future government should include all parties, except for Mugabe ...