afrol News, 5 June - Following yesterday's 9-hour detention of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, reports of anger and outrage are streaming in from all over the world, indicating Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe at last has managed to alienate even his last friends. Also regional leaders, including South Africa's Thabo Mbeki, clearly marked President Mugabe has now crossed the line.

Mr Tsvangirai was only freed from police detention after a phone appeal by South African President Thabo Mbeki to the Harare government, Mr Mbeki's spokesman said today. President Mbeki has until now been the guarantor of he Mugabe regime, letting the Zimbabwean leader go through with most foul tricks to stop Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) gaining power.

This first direct intervention by President Mbeki into Zimbabwean affairs marks a radical shift from his earlier "quiet diplomacy" line. In March 2007, when Mr Tsvangirai was detained and heavily tortured, President Mbeki failed to act. Since that, however, pressure in South Africa and from development partners has made Mr Mbeki realise his unconditional support for President Mugabe must end.

The turning point possibly came after the March presidential election, where Mr Tsvangirai was credited more votes than President Mugabe. While a second poll round, slated for 27 June, is still needed to name a winner, the elections indicated that Mr Mugabe's days in power may be counted and regional leader need to come to terms with Zimbabwe's future leader. This time, Mr Tsvangirai's arrest thus was seen as crossing the line, causing Mr Mbei to intervene.

But the intervention only came after massive pressure from the national opposition and foreign leaders. South Africa's main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA) earlier vehemently slammed the arrests of Mr Tsvangirai and party key representative Arthur Mutambara. The party urged President Mbeki to call upon President Mugabe to immediately release Mr Mutambara. The latter was apprehended during the weekend for expressing a stern dissatisfaction over the way government was handling the country's political impasse.

In a bid to ensure that President Mbeki heeds the outcry, the DA requested him to require of Mr Mugabe to convince the Southern African Development Community (SADC) that his government will give the opposition unreserved access to campaign, without intimidation, by either the ruling ZANU-PF or any of the state organs, in accordance with existing electoral policies.

More significantly, other African state leaders are now going on clear distance to President Mugabe. Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga described the Zimbabwean leader as a dictator of yesterday in one of the harshest attacks by any African office holders against Mr Mugabe. Mr Odinga reportedly said Mr Tsvangirai's decision to campaign in the run off would show "how far Mugabe and his supporters are willing to go."

Also the MDC has put pressure on regional leaders to finally intervene as Zimbabwe's economy and social structures are falling apart. The MCD blames the Mugabe government for chronic economic hardships and widespread shortages of basic commodities affecting most Zimbabweans. Around 80 percent of the country's 11.6 million people live in abject poverty, with the country's inflation officially at 269 percent. Some four million Zimbabweans - a third of the population - are believed to need food aid this year.

Hundreds of opposition supporters and officials, including lawmakers have been arrested and some of them beaten, during the protests, the MDC has said. The party claims that 65 of its supporters have been killed in political attacks. The Harare government however says that the scale of the violence has been exaggerated and blamed the MDC for instigating attacks.

Mr Tsvangarai's short-lived detention also caused outrage around the world. Sharp worded protests were emitted by the Washington government, the British Foreign Affairs Minister, the European Union (EU) Commission and human rights groups around the world. "The situation raises the wider concern that appropriate conditions be in place ahead of and during the second round of presidential elections," noted for example EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel.

For its part, the US government has called for urgent dialogue between the MDC and the ruling party, to alleviate Zimbabwe's economic and political dead end. The State Department said Mr Mugabe should end the crackdown he is leading against the opposition in a bid to promote such a dialogue in the interests of the Zimbabwean people.

It requested the international community, especially African nations to heighten their efforts to press for the dialogue. "The heightened climate of confrontation and violence in Zimbabwe this week we think heightens the urgent need for a dialogue between the government and the opposition," the State Department spokesperson Richard Boucher said. He further blamed the worsening conditions on the government and appealed on neighbouring countries to do their part to help ease the situation.

Similar statements have been made by Foreign Ministries across the Western world, from the UK, via Germany to Australia.

By Leboela Motopi, Rainer Chr Hennig

© afrol News

Related pages and feature

Current afrol News Top Stories