Just three weeks before the presidential runoff, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is giving the opposition no room to maneuver — harassing and threatening to arrest its candidate, banning its rallies and attacking diplomats who try to investigate political violence.
Even food is a weapon, with a ban on aid agencies ensuring the poorest Zimbabweans must turn to Mugabe for help even if they blame him for the collapse of the economy.
Morgan Tsvangirai out-polled Mugabe and two other candidates in the March 29 first round of presidential voting, but did not garner the 50 percent plus one vote necessary to avoid a runoff. In recent days, it has become increasingly clear Mugabe does not plan to let Tsvangirai come close to toppling him in the June 27 runoff.
PHOTO: AP
Tsvangirai tried to campaign around Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city, on Friday. He was stopped at two roadblocks, and the second time ordered to go to a police station about 50km from Bulawayo.
About two hours later, he and reporters with him were allowed to leave the station. They drove back to Bulawayo under police escort.
Tsvangirai’s spokesman, George Sibotshiwe, said Tsvangirai was questioned by police at the station for 25 minutes, and was told that all party rallies in the country had been banned indefinitely.
“We are dismayed that our president has not been allowed to access the Zimbabwean people at a crucial stage in this campaign,” Sibotshiwe said.
In a statement on Friday, Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change said police had banned its rallies out of concern for the safety of Tsvangirai and other party leaders. Sibotshiwe called the justification “nonsense,” and said the ban was “a clear indication that the regime will do everything necessary to remain in power.”
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena insisted that “people are free to campaign as they choose,” but he said Tsvangirai had consistently broken the law by failing to notify police of his rallies.
Tsvangirai left the country soon after the first round of voting, in March, and his party has said he was the target of a military assassination plot. He had only returned to Zimbabwe late last month to campaign for the runoff.
The government-controlled media has focused on Mugabe and ZANU-PF, all but ignoring Tsvangirai’s campaign, raising the question of whether Zimbabweans in isolated rural areas even know the opposition leader has returned.
Tsvangirai’s party, blaming state agents, says at least 60 of its supporters have been slain in the past two months.
The latest setback for Tsvangirai came as UN aid agencies said they were deeply concerned because aid groups have been ordered to halt operations. Millions of Zimbabweans depend on international groups for food and other aid as the economy crumbles.
Without the private agencies, impoverished Zimbabweans will be dependent on the government and Mugabe’s party, both of which distribute food and other aid.
The US ambassador to Zimbabwe, James McGee, said on Friday that Zimbabwean authorities were now supplying food mostly to Mugabe supporters.
On Thursday, aid groups in Zimbabwe were sent a memorandum from social welfare minister Nicholas Goche ordering an indefinite suspension of field work.
Aid deliveries to more than 4 million people in the African country will be severely hampered by the decision, said Elisabeth Byrs, a spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Friday.
More than half Zimbabwe’s population live on less than US$1 a day and life expectancy is only 35 years, according to the UN.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number