Zimbabwe opposition accused of treason
Zimbabwe's government accused opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai of treason Thursday, saying he and enemy Britain are plotting an "illegal regime change" to oust the southern African nation's longtime ruler. President Robert Mugabe's government claimed in the state-run newspaper that Tsvangirai was plotting an "illegal regime change" with the help of Britain, the former colonial power. The paper cited a letter from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown -- which the opposition said was a forgery. Tsvangirai denounced the allegations as "outrageous." The accusation came as the government continued a campaign of arrests, assaults and other intimidation designed to suppress political dissent following a March 29 vote that President Robert Mugabe is widely believed to have lost. Zimbabweans have been waiting nearly three weeks for results of the presidential vote as riot police and security forces have deployed across the country in a show of force. Independent tallies suggest Tsvangirai won, but not with enough votes to avoid a runoff. The electoral commission plans a re-count of presidential votes on Saturday, saying it is verifying ballots and investigating anomalies. The opposition said it won outright, and accused Mugabe of engineering a delay to secure his 28-year grip on power. South Africa's opposition Democratic Alliance said South African parliamentarians had been invited to observe the recount but that first it was seeking assurances -- including that ballot boxes had not been tampered with and that the recount would immediately produce an announcement of results. Tsvangirai's party has failed in attempts to force the release of results through the courts and through appeals to regional leaders. The party has been reluctant to agree to a runoff, arguing that a second round would be rigged by Mugabe's cronies. To support the treason charges, the state-run Herald newspaper quoted Thursday from alleged correspondence between Brown and Tsvangirai. Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change has called the document -- cited repeatedly this week by the Mugabe administration -- a forgery. Tsvangirai told The Associated Press in an interview during a visit to neighboring South Africa that his party was formed with a commitment to "democratic change" in Zimbabwe, not a forceful overthrow of Mugabe. The Herald said Brown pledged in an April 9 letter to Tsvangirai that he would "make sure that a solution to the ongoing crisis in Zimbabwe is reached and your electoral success is respected." "Tsvangirai along with Brown are seeking an illegal regime change in Zimbabwe, and on the part of Tsvangirai, this is treasonous," The Herald quoted outgoing Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa as saying. Chinamasa lost his seat in the elections in which Mugabe's ruling party lost control of Parliament for the first time. Officials from Britain would not immediately comment on the letter or its authenticity. Tsvangirai has been charged with treason before. In 2003, he was acquitted of charges in an alleged plot to assassinate Mugabe. Tsvangirai called the 18-month trial an attempt to frame him and fellow opposition leaders. At the United Nations on Wednesday, the United States and Britain backed a suggestion from U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to send observers to monitor any presidential runoff. U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said the U.N. should send a joint mission to ensure the electoral process was democratic. The Herald indicated that was unlikely. It quoted Zimbabwe's U.N. Ambassador Boniface Chidyausiku as saying that "for the U.N. to come we are saying it should first be invited." Zimbabwe refused to allow Western observers to monitor last month's elections, inviting only "friendly" countries including a Southern African Development Community team led by a junior minister from Angola -- a country that has not had elections since 1992. Zimbabwe's government also warned Thursday that it would pull the licenses of any transport workers who heeded an opposition call to strike for the release of election results. With Zimbabwe's economy devastated by soaring inflation and 80 percent unemployment, the opposition has had difficulty getting the few Zimbabweans with jobs to join the nationwide strike. But The Herald quoted Transport Minister Chris Mushowe as saying some public buses had stopped running, "deliberately withdrawing their services since Monday." Mushowe said this violated terms of transport licenses. |
