Posted on 07/02/2004 8:36:11 PM PDT by vikingd00d
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Supporters of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe used axes, clubs and stones to attack a meeting of opposition politicians Thursday, injuring several people, opposition party officials said. Morgan Tsvangirai, head of the Movement for Democratic Change, took shelter in his armor-protected car and was not injured, they said.
The violence erupted in Mvurwi, about 60 miles north of Harare, the capital, as about 400 opposition leaders and supporters discussed preparations for parliamentary elections next March. Witnesses said about 200 ruling party ZANU-PF militants attacked the meeting.
"It is an exaggeration to say it was an assassination attempt against him (Tsvangirai), but he could certainly have been killed," said opposition lawmaker David Coltart, who spoke with Tsvangirai shortly afterward.
It wasn't immediately clear how many people were injured or what their conditions were. No comment was available from police.
Opposition rallies have regularly been disrupted by rival party militants in Zimbabwe, which has been wracked by four years of political and economic turmoil since Mugabe ordered the seizure of thousands of white-owned farms for redistribution to blacks.
Since then, political violence has claimed the lives of more than 200 people and tens of thousands of mostly black opposition supporters have fled their homes.
The land seizures, coupled with economic mismanagement, corruption and erratic rains, have crippled the country's agriculture-based economy. Zimbabwe faces record inflation and unemployment, along with acute shortages of food, hard currency, medicine, gasoline and other imports.
AP-ES-07-02-04 2111EDT
ping
The opposition leader is the bravest man on the planet. I can't believe he has survived this long.
Where's the U.N.?
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Where it always is. In New York City, dining in the best restaurants.
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