Zimbabwe leader arrested, banned from campaigns
Saturday, 07 Jun 2008 00:56
Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai arrested and banned from attending political rallies
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Morgan Tsvangirai, the man bidding to oust Robert Mugabe from power in
Zimbabwe, has been arrested for the second time in three days.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader, who was released hours after being detained, was also banned from attending political rallies in the run-up to the June 27th presidential run-off.
Police officials cited security concerns as the reason behind the decision.
Mr Tsvangirai was arrested after being stopped at a roadblock close to Bulawayo in south-west Zimbabwe, which followed a similar detention on Wednesday.
His party dubbed the latest incident as a "shameless and desperate act".
"The regime must let the president do that which the people of Zimbabwe have mandated him and the MDC, to help restore the dignity of the people of Zimbabwe," a statement said.
Earlier on Friday the country's government announced that aid groups working in the country must stop all fieldwork immediately.
Social welfare minister Nicholas Goche said in a memorandum sent to the aid groups that he had discovered they were violating the terms of their agreement with the Zimbabwean government.
In his statement, Mr Goche ordered all the aid groups and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to "suspend all field operations until further notice".
The announcement comes almost a week after Mr Mugabe banned a selection of volunteer agencies from working in Zimbabwe.
Care International, a UK-based organisation, for example, was ordered to suspend its work after being accused of campaigning for the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai are due to compete in the run-off election in three weeks time.
The detention of a group of UK and US diplomats for several hours at a road block on Thursday has added to tensions.