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Zimbabwe's Tsvangirai 'arrested' | Zimbabwe's Tsvangirai 'arrested' |
(20 minutes later) | |
Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been arrested in a raid at his party headquarters, officials from his party have said. | Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been arrested in a raid at his party headquarters, officials from his party have said. |
He was seized along with about 20 members of staff ahead of a news conference, the Movement for Democratic Change's Tendai Biti told the BBC. | |
Mr Tsvangirai was admitted to hospital after being arrested earlier in March. | |
The latest arrest came as southern African leaders gathered in Tanzania for talks on Zimbabwe. | |
President Robert Mugabe is expected to be at that meeting. But correspondents say regional support for him is waning following the alleged beating of opposition politicians in police custody earlier this month. | |
"Mugabe is telling them 'I've got the title deeds to Zimbabwe, you can go to hell'. He's saying, 'Stuff diplomacy,'" Mr Biti told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme. | |
Riot police | |
In the latest raid, the party headquarters in the capital, Harare, was cordoned off before officers went in to make the arrests. | |
"There's a wall of riot police so you can't actually see what's happening," Mr Biti said. | |
Mr Tsvangirai had been planning to hold a news conference about a spate of recent abductions of opposition members, the party said. | |
Scores of activists were arrested and allegedly assaulted after police broke up an opposition meeting earlier this month. | |
In Dar es Salaam, Mr Mugabe is expected to blame tensions in his country on an opposition campaign of violence. | |
The government has consistently accused the MDC of using violence and attacking the police. |