Zimbabwe's opposition leader speaks of 'inspiration'
Updated on 14 March 2007
Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai says the beating he received at the hands of police should be an 'inspiration' for those who oppose the Mugabe regime.
Specialist surgeons say it takes a great deal of force to crack a skull, it is an injury that carries the risk of permanent damage.
The Mugabe effect
The opposition says Mugabe's seizure of most white-owned farms since 2000 has destroyed what was one of Africa's most developed economies.
Slum demolition in 2005 left around 700,000 people without homes or jobs, according to the UN.
Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate is 1,700% - the highest in the world - and prices are rising daily. Basic goods like bread, sugar and petrol are often unavailable in shops.
Zimbabwe's opposition leader is recovering today in an Harare clinic.
Morgan Tsvangirai from the Movement for Democratic Change said: "Well, I'm recovering, it's been a traumatic experience. Head back. Hands, Broken bones, knees severely bruised."
He had had a brain scan and blood transfusions in intensive care.
He said he'd been attacked and beaten at a police station when he'd turned up to check on supporters who been detained en route to Sunday's prayer vigil. "It was almost as though they were waiting for me," he said.
An unknown number of the hundred or so detained with him remain in hospital too. One woman says she was severely beaten by men wielding batons, and long metal bars while being arrested and later, while in a police cell.
Four young Zimbabweans heckled the Chairman of the African Union today, as he spoke at the foreign policy think tank, Chatham House in London.
John Kufuor Chairman, African Union said: "I want to tell you straight away that I know that the African Union is very uncomfortable. The situation in your country (Zimbabwe) is very embarrassing."
The government of Zimbabwe had claimed it was opposition members who'd been flouting the rule of law, planning an illegal gathering. Yesterday the detainees appeared in court charged with inciting violence; charges it now seems have been thrown out by the judge.
Today the Zimbabwean government vowing to keep on cracking down on dissent.
There were more demonstrations outside Zimbabwe today; one outside the embassy in the former colonial capital, London and there is a sense among Zimbabweans here that the regime's never been more isolated.
With opposition leaders being bludgeoned by riot police, no freedom of expression inside Zimbabwe and all demonstrations, like this one, declared illegal, it's left to the exile community to give voice to mounting opposition to the increasingly repressive regime of Robert Mugabe.
The next big flashpoint there may be a general strike called by the Zimbabwean Trades Union Congress for early next month. Its president said today he knew it was a highly provocative act.
'Well, I'm recovering, it's been a traumatic experience. Head back. Hands, Broken bones, knees severely bruised.'Morgan Tsvangirai
At war
Robert Mugabe is now at war not only with the opposition, but with factions of his own ruling party and with presidential elections due next year, potential rivals are circling for the kill.
Mugabe appeared to have abandoned his bid for re-election, but has infuriated supporters and opponents alike by announcing on Sunday his intention to stand again.
Vice President Joyce Mujuru heads one of two factions opposing his bid within the ruling Zanu PF party. She's married to the former head of the army; her nom de guerre from her guerrilla days: Spill Blood.
Emmerson Mnangagwa, probably Zimbabwe's richest politician, is the other front runner. A cabinet minister for 27 years, he presided over massacres during rebellion in Matabeleland in the 1980s, in which 20,000 died.
Memories of the heady days of Zimbabwean independence a quarter of a century ago, under the guiding hand of the former rebel leader, seem terminally tainted now.
At 83, Robert Mugabe may finally be losing his grip in more ways than one.
