The Struggle Continues: Mugabe Opponents Vow to Retake Zimbabwe

by Jordan Yerman | March 17, 2007 at 03:24 pm

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Zimbabwe remains in the news. Check out some other articles by NP'ers as well. Zimbabwe finds itself on the brink every so often these past few years; perhaps this time critical mass has been achieved.

President Robert Mugabe's opponents have vowed to unite to drive him from office, saying his government already is at "war" with dissidents.

Main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who suffered a savage beating after being arrest last Sunday, went home from hospital on Friday but was suffering dizzy spells, aides said.

"If there is going to be any war, this is the time to declare war," said Arthur Mutambara, head of another Movement for Democratic Change faction.

"We are already in a state of war" anyway coming from one direction, said Mutambara, who was among those arrested with Tsvangirai and other activists while heading to a prayer meeting called by the Save Zimbabwe Campaign, an alliance of opposition, church, student and civic groups.

Mutambara said civil disobedience and protests would continue, despite assaults and violence against activists by police and soldiers.

UPDATE:

If Mugabe and his opponents are indeed at war, then Mugabe has fired yet another salvo:

[q
url="http://mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=302304&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/"]The
spokesperson for Zimbabwe's main opposition leader was assaulted by
security forces as he tried to leave the country on Sunday, a party
official said.

Nelson Chamisa, aide to Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader
Morgan Tsvangirai, was assaulted at Harare International airport as he
was leaving for Belgium via London to attend a meeting of the European
Union and Africa Caribbean Pacific in Brussels, the party's secretary
general, Tendai Biti, said from Johannesburg.

"He was beaten on the head with iron bars. There was blood all over
his face. He is in a critical condition at a private hospital in
Harare," Biti said.

The assault follows the re-arrests at the airport on Saturday of
three opposition activists, who were allegedly assaulted along with
Tsvangirai when police broke up a March 11 protest meeting.

Meanwhile, President Robert Mugabe accused the opposition of being
terrorists supported by Britain and the West, as Tsvangirai said the
crisis in Zimbabwe has reached a "tipping point".[/q]

Mugabe seems to think that he can better control his opponents if he keeps them local, and it seems to be working for the moment. However, history is not on his side. South Africa's Apartheid government kept opposition leaders on an island prison for a generation, but that did not prevent tApartheid's collapse in 1994.