Zimbabwe’s political turmoil is to top the agenda at an emergency meeting of southern Africa leaders in Tanzania.

Government opponents in Zimbabwe, bloodied and defiant after police brutally crushed fresh dissent, today vowed to drive President Robert Mugabe from office in a campaign of protest they described as “war” against the nation’s rulers.

A defiant and angry Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has lashed out at Western support for what he called violent opposition activists and told his growing number of critics to “go hang”.

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe said today he took “great exception” to the support given by Western nations to what he called violent opposition politics in his southern African nation.

Jakaya Kikwete, presidential candidate for the ruling Revolutionary Party, took an early lead today in Tanzania’s third elections since multi-party politics were reintroduced in 1992.

The man widely expected to win tomorrow’s presidential elections in Tanzania collapsed while addressing thousands of supporters on the last day of campaigning today.