Tsvangirai returns to Zimbabwe to fight election
Tsvangirai returns to Zimbabwe
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Saturday, 24, May 2008 03:31
Leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Morgan Tsvangirai is returning to Zimbabwe today from self-imposed exile to hit the campaign trail.
The opposition leader told reporters in Johannesburg, South Africa before he left that he was "excited" to be returning to his home nation, reports BBC News.
Mr Tsvangirai has been out of the country since March due to fears for his life.
The MDC leader was due to arrive in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare at 10:10 BST, according to the International Herald Tribune.
While at the airport he told the Associated Press news agency that he felt "quite safe" about his return.
Mr Tsvangirai had been due to return to Zimbabwe last week but was delayed amid claims an assassination attempt had been planned on his life at a rally he was due to attend.
Since the last round of voting, the MDC and human rights groups have reported hundreds of incidences of violence towards those who oppose Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party.
Those in the country say that as least 40 people have been killed since the first round of voting on March 29th.
Mr Tsvangirai will now face Mr Mugabe in a second round of voting, after his party failed to win a large enough percentage of the votes to claim the presidency.
This is a fact the that the MDC hotly disputes, claiming to have taken more than the 47.9 per cent of the vote the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has reported.