Police stop Zimbabwean opposition leader 8 minutes ago



HARARE, Zimbabwe - Police stopped Zimbabwe's opposition presidential candidate at a roadblock Friday and ordered him to go to a police station, another setback in a campaign to unseat Robert Mugabe that has been marred by violence and intimidation.

Reporters with the convoy heard police at the roadblock say Morgan Tsvangirai's planned rallies were illegal. He was ordered to follow police to Esigodini, a town about 30 miles southeast of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second-largest city.

Tsvangirai's spokesman George Sibotshiwe said the candidate and other top officials entered the police station, as others in the convoy waited outside.

In a statement Friday, Tsvangirai's campaign called for his immediate release and said his detention was "yet another shameless and desperate act by the Mugabe regime" to frustrate the opposition's campaign.

Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said he was not aware of Friday's incident, but said that it is not uncommon for police to stop drivers at roadblocks to ensure they are not transporting weapons.

"Tsvangirai and his convoy are not immune to search," he said. "They can be searched at any roadblock they pass."

He also said candidates had been informed they needed to inform police before holding a political rally.

On Wednesday, Tsvangirai said he was detained for nine hours at another police station near Bulawayo. Bvudzijena denied police were interfering with the opposition campaign.

Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in the March 29 first round, but did not garner the 50 percent plus one vote necessary to avoid a runoff, which is scheduled for June 27.

Opposition and human rights groups accuse Mugabe of orchestrating violence to ensure he wins re-election amid growing unpopularity for his heavy-handed rule and the country's economic collapse.

On Thursday, a mob of Zimbabwe "war veterans," a group of often violent Mugabe loyalists, waylaid a convoy of American and British diplomats investigating political violence, beating a local staffer, slashing tires and threatening to burn the envoys, the U.S. Embassy said.

Mugabe frequently accuses Britain and the United States of plotting to topple him and return Zimbabwe to colonial rule.

Also Thursday, aid groups in Zimbabwe were sent a memorandum from social welfare minister Nicholas Goche ordering an indefinite suspension of field work.

Millions of Zimbabweans depend on international groups for food and other aid as the economy crumbles.

James Elder, a spokesman for the UN children's agency, said the suspension was "completely unacceptable and hugely concerning. Hundreds of thousands of children are in need of immediate assistance.

"With the onset of the winter in Zimbabwe, the timing is critical for children who are among the most vulnerable and most in need of support," Elder said.

Goche's memorandum to the United Nations and other aid groups made no mention of government claims that aid was distributed to favored recipients or opposition supporters, or that civic and human rights groups registered as voluntary organizations were campaigning against Mugabe's party.

Earlier this week, the aid organization CARE International said it had been ordered to halt operations pending an investigation of allegations it was campaigning for the opposition. CARE denies the allegation.

Mugabe has led Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980 and was once hailed as a liberator who promoted racial reconciliation and economic empowerment.

But he has been accused of clinging to power through election fraud and intimidation, and of destroying his country's economy through the seizure of white-owned farms beginning in 2000.

Discontent over the economy propelled Tsvangirai to the top in presidential voting March 29.

Tsvangirai, who lost a 2002 presidential election that independent observers said was rigged in Mugabe's favor, had only returned to Zimbabwe in late May to campaign for the runoff. He left the country soon after the March first round, and his party has said he was the target of a military assassination plot.

He has survived at least three assassination attempts. In 1997, unidentified assailants tried to throw him from a 10th-floor window.

Last year, he was hospitalized after a brutal assault by police at a prayer rally. Images seen around the world of his bruised and swollen face have come to symbolize the plight of dissenters in Zimbabwe.

Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change says at least 60 of its supporters have been slain in the past two months