Mugabe blames opponents for election violence

Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe today attempted to blame his political opponents for the violence and fear being stirred up by his own thuggish supporters.

Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe today attempted to blame his political opponents for the violence and fear sweeping the country.

As the June 27 run-off presidential election nears, Mugabe also threatened to arrest opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, accusing him of supporting mounting violence.

Mugabe, on the campaign trail yesterday, accused Mr Tsvangirai and other leaders of the Movement for Democratic Change of condoning "arson and violence across the country".

He said the violence was systematic, showing it was organised by opposition leaders.

Independent human rights observers say it is Mugabe's police, soldiers and party militants who have orchestrated widespread violence aimed at ensuring Mugabe wins on June 27 after coming in second to Mr Tsvangirai in the first round in March.

"If this doesn't stop, the person who is responsible is Tsvangirai," Mugabe said, adding that opposition leaders could be arrested.

Police are already holding Mr Tsvangirai's party secretary general, Tendai Biti, saying he will be charged with treason, which can carry the death penalty.

The opposition said Mr Biti's arrest last week was "politically motivated" and a part of "malicious" attempts by Mugabe "to frustrate the election campaign of the MDC".

Mugabe has campaigned freely at rallies given prominence by the dominant state newspapers and state television and radio, flying across the country in a presidential helicopter escorted by two military aircraft.

The independent Media Monitoring Project said in its latest bulletin that in a single week of campaigning, the country's sole broadcaster devoted 334 minutes to favourable coverage of Mugabe's party. In the few minutes devoted to Mr Tsvangirai's party, "it was portrayed as inherently violent and determined to reverse the gains of independence," the monitors said.

Mugabe has even cracked down on independent aid agencies, accusing them of working with the opposition to topple him. A government-ordered freeze on aid work has put millions who depend on food aid at the mercy of the government's own distribution system.

Zimbabwe's neighbours are showing increasing concern that the run-off will not be free or fair.

In South Africa, the Nelson Mandela Foundation said today that the former president's organisation had joined leaders and groups across Africa calling "for an end to the violence and intimidation, and the restoration of full access for humanitarian and aid agencies."

Retired Cape Town Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan are among others who have signed the call.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation "would like to join all freedom-loving people who have added their voices to the growing worldwide call for true democracy (in Zimbabwe) and urge others to do the same", chief executive officer Achmat Dangor said in a statement.

Mugabe aide Emmerson Mnangagwa was asked about earlier Mugabe comments that he would not accept election defeat.

"The election will dictate (who governs)," said Mnangagwa, Mugabe's feared former security minister and chief campaign official. "We are going to accept the outcome of the results."

Mnangagwa could be trying to reassure Zimbabwe's neighbours. However, at home, Mugabe repeatedly has declared that he would never cede power to opponents he accuses of being puppets of former colonial power Britain and the United States.

The Herald, the state-owned government mouthpiece newspaper, yesterday quoted Mugabe as saying the nation threw off colonial domination with a guerrilla war in 1980, and his party is ready to fight again to stop the pro-Western opposition party from gaining control of the government.

"We shed a lot of blood for this country. We are not going to give up our country for a mere X on a ballot. How can a ball-point pen fight with a gun?" Mugabe said.