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Harare defiant on dissent

Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is pictured in bed after being admitted to a hospital on wednesday with serious injuries after allegedly being beaten and detained by security forces in Harare, Zimbabwe. PHOTO: EPA

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's government vowed to silence dissent on Wednesday, defying international outrage over an assault which left the opposition leader with a possibly fractured skull.

Images of battered Mugabe critic Morgan Tsvangirai going to court after his arrest on Sunday have brought condemnation from several countries including the US.

Washington said on Wednesday that it was looking at what additional sanctions it might impose on Zimbabwe.

Mugabe, Zimbabwe's sole ruler since independence from Britain in 1980, showed no sign of softening his approach.

Political tensions have increased in recent weeks because of plans by Mugabe, now 83, to further extend his rule.

His government accused Tsvangirai, the head of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and his supporters of inciting violence to overthrow the administration and warned their campaign would end in "grief."

"Those who incite violence, or actually cause and participate in unleashing it, are set to pay a very heavy price, regardless of who they are," Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said in the statement.

Police circled the headquarters of Tsvangirai's party in Harare late on Wednesday evening when it had no staff in it, an opposition official said.

The US has condemned police action against Tsvangirai and his followers as "ruthless and repressive" and regional powerhouse South Africa, which normally avoids direct comment on Zimbabwe's woes, called on Mugabe's government to respect the rule of law.

Tsvangirai, speaking to a radio reporter from his hospital bed, said he was attacked after arriving at a police station to check on supporters who had been detained with him on Sunday when the government broke up a planned prayer vigil.

"It was almost as if they were waiting for me," he said in remarks broadcast on South Africa's national radio.

Tsvangirai's spokesman said he was in intensive care.

"He has just had a brain scan because his skull is cracked," spokesman William Bango said from Tsvangirai's Harare hospital, adding the opposition leader had also needed blood transfusions.
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