Zimbabwe police release Mugabe opposition

Police today finally freed nearly 200 people arrested last week in a raid on the Zimbabwe’s main opposition headquarters.

Lawyers for the Movement for Democratic change party yesterday obtained a court order for their release.

Many were refugees having fled to Harare to escape mounting violence and intimidation in rural areas that used to be ruling party strongholds but turned against President Robert Mugabe in the March 29 elections.

Twenty-nine people, mainly women and children, were released almost immediately. Opposition defence lawyer Alec Muchadehama said the rest were freed from various police stations in the capital today.

He said there were no immediate signs that police had tortured detainees, but that he had not yet seen all those released.

In New York, the UN Security Council was due to discuss the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe later today in closed session.

Meanwhile, the European Union urged China and other African nations to stop supplying weapons to Zimbabwe for Mugabe’s armed forces. The call came after a ship with Chinese weapons destined for Zimbabwe was turned away by South Africa, Mozambique and Angola last week.

“It’s about making sure there is an international effort to stop arms going to Zimbabwe, until such time the situation has been resolved and democracy is allowed to run its course,” Britain’s Europe Minister Jim Murphy said in Luxembourg, where EU foreign ministers were meeting.

“There should be a government that the people voted for, so the election results should be released and those who won those elections should be put in office,” he said.

Results from the presidential election still have not been declared. Independent observers say that opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe, but did not secure an outright majority necessary to avoid a run-off.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission concluded the recount of 23 disputed parliamentary seats yesterday.

Despite fears of vote-rigging during the parliamentary recount, the published results confirmed that the opposition held a majority of seats for the first time in Zimbabwe’s history.

On Monday, Tsvangirai addressed a joint news conference with Arthur Mutambara, the head of a breakaway faction, to say they had healed their divisions and were now united against Mugabe.

“Old man, go and have an honourable exit,” Mr Tsvangirai said in a message to the 84-year-old who has ruled since independence from the UK in 1980.

The opposition leaders also appealed to the UN Security Council to send a special envoy to Zimbabwe and to warn Mugabe that the mounting violence against opposition supporters was tantamount to “crimes against humanity.”