Zimbabwean opposition leader hospitalized

Victim: Tag-team attacks occurred
Mtetwa said police forced Tsvangirai and many of her other clients to lay face down and then beat them savagely and repeatedly with truncheons both at the scene of the arrests and at police stations.

“We were made to lie on our stomach and they beat with batons and iron bars. When one group of police got tired another started on us,” said William Bango, one of Tsvangirai’s aides who was sent home from hospital Wednesday, told reporters.

Arthur Mutambara, leader of a breakaway faction of Tsvangirai’s party, also had head wounds, and Lovemore Madhuku, head of a militant reform group, suffered a broken arm.

“The world community again has been shown that the regime of Robert Mugabe is ruthless and repressive and creates only suffering for the people of Zimbabwe,” said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Journalists held
Among those arrested Sunday in Highfield were two journalists on assignment for The Associated Press, Harare freelance photographer Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi and freelance television producer Tendai Musiya. Both were also released from official custody but Musiya was still undergoing medical checks and was expected to return home shortly.

U.S. Ambassador Christopher Dell expressed disappointment at what he called the passivity of neighboring states, including South Africa, in the face of the suffering of Zimbabweans.

“One would hope that in the glaring light of the growing brutality of the Zimbabwean government, those states would finally feel moved to act. They can no longer deny that there is a real crisis on the way here,” Dell told the British Broadcasting Corp.

ENCARTA ZIMBABWE: Maps, facts and figures

Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad issued a statement Tuesday saying South Africa was concerned about the declining political and economic situation in Zimbabwe.

“South Africa urges the Zimbabwean government to ensure that the rule of law including respect for rights of all Zimbabweans and leaders of various political parties is respected,” he said.

EU 'deeply concerned'
Germany, which holds the European Union presidency, said “it was deeply concerned” about the opposition leaders’ maltreatment, and the Zimbabwean government was responsible for their safety and well-being.

John Kufuor, president of Ghana, told SABC radio news that the African Union “is very concerned about the situation in Zimbabwe.”

Mugabe’s opponents blame the 83-year-old leader for repression, corruption, acute food shortages and inflation of 1,600 percent — the highest in the world. They have demanded the ouster of Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s only ruler since independence from Britain in 1980.

Government blames opposition
State radio Tuesday quoted Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu as saying opposition activists had attacked police and were to blame for the violence.

Authorities suspected an “underground movement” of opponents was planning a violent campaign against the government, he said.

Nathan Shamuyarira, chief spokesman for Mugabe’s ruling party, said Tsvangirai defied a police ban on Sunday’s meeting. “Tsvangirai really asked for the trouble in which he has found himself,” he told South African state television.

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