Zimbabwe Opposition Leaders Detained

by publicreader | March 11, 2007 at 10:17 am

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The situation in the southern African country of Zimbabwe(Country Profile) continues to deteriorate, with a wave of recent strikes spoiling dictator Robert Mugabe's(bio)83rd birthday celebration. The dictator planned last month to spend over a million dollars on his own party, but instead declared a ban on all public gatherings because the population, starving and facing outbreaks of cholera, wasn't in a partying mood. Now, however, Mugabe seems to have given himself a belated birthday present. He has arrested Morgan Tsvangirai (bio), the leader of the MDC (Movemenent for Democratic Change), Zimbabwe's main opposition party, along with several other leaders.

They were seized after trying to hold a prayer meeting that the government said breached a ban on political gatherings

The arrest occurred before a rally organized by the Save Zimbabwe campaign could get started. Opposition leaders told the BBC that the rally was not political, and therefore not subject to the provisions of the ban.

That is obviously false, but not as pernicious as Mugabe's war on freedom of speech and of assembly.

Related Link: kubatana.net. The kubatana site is an online community of Zimbabwe activists, featuring archived articles about the current situation. It includes a background piece on the Save Zimbabwe Campaign.

Related Link: MDC website. As of this writing , the MDC site does not appear to be functioning.

Related Link:MDC Wikipedia