Tsvangirai says 'Yes - but...'

Why the MDC leader has changed his mind

A spokesman for Morgan Tsvangirai and his party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said last night that the opposition leader will take part in a run-off presidential election - but only if certain specific conditions are met.

These conditions, said George Sibotshiwe, are first, a secure and peaceful environment in Zimbabwe, and second, rigorous international monitoring of the voting itself, and of the subsequent count.

He repeated the MDC view that current conditions made a free and fair vote impossible, and he called for the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the association of heads of state in the region, to oversee every stage of any new count.

The MDC believe that Tsvangirai won the election last month outright. The results have still not been made public, despite a call yesterday by the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for the "very transparent and expeditious release of election results."

Meanwhile British premier Gordon Brown is expected to raise the subject of Zimbabwe on his current visit to the US. And in South Africa the ruling African National Congress made a surprisingly strong comment, describing the situation in the country as "dire".

Reports of the General Strike, which began yesterday and is intended to last until the results of the presidential election are announced, were varied and confused.

To encourage people to ignore the strike call, the government provided transport by bus at half fare in some parts of Harare. In the Warren Park area of the capital a 72-seater bus was set on fire, but passengers were asked to disembark first, and there were no injuries.

Police blamed this and other bus burnings on MDC activists. but an MDC spokeman denied this, saying that Zanu-PF supporters were trying to tarnish the image of the opposition.

There were also reports of sporadic violence, with police and riot troops attacking people on the streets. MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti said: "The strike was peaceful until the police and the army started beating up people. This shows that the regime is willing to bury democracy."

Biti claimed that violence by state militia in rural areas, especially in those where voters showed strong support for the MDC in the elections, has so far resulted in the death of two MDC activists, with another 200 people hospitalised.

Comments

[DC]

ZANU-PF in cahoots with SADC (read Mbeki) have the MDC in disarray. What is a strike going to achieve? 80% unemployment and inflation so high that every hour of every working day counts to those who have formal employment. Nobody can afford to go on strike. The MDC should know this.

What is needed is for the MDC to lead from the front. They need to change from politicians to revolutionaries, from parliamentary backbenchers to liberators. That means that Tsvangirai needs to lead (from the front) marches to the president's offices/mansion demanding to be sworn in to office.

If the police want violence let them start it. But the MDC and supporters must not retaliate. Let everyone with a camera film what happens and upload it to the internet. We know that if successfully intimidated by prospects of being ousted, Mugabe will panic and open fire with live ammunition on the crowds.

Unfortunately it is this picture AND ONLY this picture that will force SADC and the AU to remove their Mugabe-blinkers and see reality.

Otherwise all is lost. Tsvangirai may as well write his autobiography 'How I Became President Of Zimbabwe Twice - And Was Never President'.

[Andy]

Exactly what I thought. Mugabe is never going to agree to a genuinely open-monitored election, the damage of intimadationhas already been done.

The best hope now is for Zimbabweans to spill their blood in the name of liberation, then they too can call themselves war vets and claim land. Zimbabwe won't be as successful as Burma at supressing the uprising and getting away with it. SADC will have no choice left but to take a real stand.

In the absence of a fair re-run the MDC should make a last minute announcement of protest on the day of the electino, this wayu the government can't stop them going into the city since they will be seen to blatantly be denying voters a chance to cast ballots. Instead of his hollow boycotted victory announcement Mugabe will be all over the news for his bloodshed.

[Mr. Ilarijs]

Peace!

[AliceFox]

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