NELSON CHAMISA BRUTALIZED!

19 March 2007

http://www.nehandaradio.com/chamisaassaulted190307.html

The spokesman for Zimbabwe's main opposition leader was assaulted by
security forces as he tried to leave the country today, a party official
said.

Nelson Chamisa, aide to Morgan Tsvangirai, the Movement for Democratic
Change leader, was assaulted at Harare International Airport as he was
leaving for Belgium via London to attend a meeting of the European Union and
Africa Caribbean Pacific in Brussels, the party's secretary general, Tendai
Biti, said from Johannesburg.

"He was beaten on the head with iron bars. There was blood all over his
face. He is in a critical condition at a private hospital in Harare," Mr
Biti said.

The assault follows the re-arrests at the airport on Saturday of three
opposition activists, who were allegedly assaulted along with Mr Tsvangirai
when police broke up a March 11 protest meeting.

Meanwhile, President Robert Mugabe accused the opposition of being
terrorists supported by Britain and the West, as Mr Tsvangirai said the
crisis in Zimbabwe had reached a "tipping point."

Zimbabwean police used tear gas, water cannon and live ammunition to crush
the March 11 gathering, and beat activists, during and after arrests,
according to opposition members.

Mr Mugabe, 83, has rejected the international condemnation following the
arrests and alleged beating, lashing out at critics and telling them to "go
hang," and he vowed to crackdown on further protests.

Speaking at a ceremony to mark International Women's Day in Harare on
Saturday, Mr Mugabe accused the opposition party of resorting to violence
sponsored by former colonial power Britain and other Western allies to oust
his government, a newspaper reported.

Zimbabwe is facing a critical moment that could see the end of Mugabe's
dictatorship, Mr Tsvangirai said by telephone from Harare where he is
recovering from injuries.

Photographs of his battered face were printed in newspapers around the
world.

"Things are bad," Tsvangirai told the BBC's Sunday AM program, "but I think
that this crisis has reached a tipping point, and we could see the beginning
of the end of this dictatorship in whatever form."

Mr Tsvangirai left the hospital on Friday battered but defiant, pledging to
"soldier on until Zimbabwe is free." His supporters vowed to drive Mugabe
from office with a campaign of civil disobedience.

In the interview with the BBC program, he also criticized South Africa for
its role in the crisis. Calling the country a "critical player," he said
South Africa "could have been more strong," and urged continued pressure
from both the African Union and the international community, as well as
individual nations such as the United States.

A regional power center, South Africa has come under fire for its policy of
"quiet diplomacy" toward Zimbabwe, arguing that working behind the scenes
would do more to encourage reform than isolating its president.

But now calls have been made for African nations to speak out against
Mugabe's treatment of the opposition. - Times Online.

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