Zimbabwe: Mugabe's Rival Detained

(Image from AFP)

On the way to a rally, Robert Mugabe's chief rival Morgan Tsvangirai was arrested on June 4, along with 13 high-level officials of his party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The police, having stopped Tsvangirai's 14 vehicle convoy, arrested even the MDC's chairman and the vice president along with the presidential candidate. The police has not given party officials any reasons for the arrest, but just said "our bosses want to see you."

The United States quickly responded by urging Zimbabwe to safely release Tsvangirai immediately and also asked South Africa to pressure Mugabe.

This arrest comes at a time where tensions are at peak between the two sides as the June 27 runoff election approaches. Amnesty International has documented how state-sponsored human rights violations have been continuing against thousands of innocent civilians, since Tsvangirai outpolled Mugabe in March.

See this previous post for more information regarding how the situation has been deteriorating.