MDC calls for outside intervention
- 00:01:36
- ITN
MDC calls for outside intervention
Zimbabwe's opposition party is calling to other African nations for help in resolving the election crisis engulfing the country.Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change claims that President Robert Mugabe is starting to use violent tactics to suppress his opponents so that he can stay in power.The accusations come amid growing reports that ruling Zanu-PF party thugs were escalating their invasions of white-owned farms and driving the farmers off their land.MDC officials warn there could be a repeat of the bloodshed in Zimbabwe in 2000 and claim that the militants who have been used to intimidate government opponents in the past are being rearmed.Much of the violence has erupted in traditional ruling party strongholds that voted for the opposition in the election, including the rural areas of Murewa, Mutoko and Gweru.Reports of violence in remote rural areas - including the torching of opposition supporters houses - have circulated through Harare in recent days.Meanwhile, the MDC is pressing ahead a lawsuit to force the publication of the results of the presidential election that they say Mr Tsvangirai won outright.Mr Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe for 28 years with an increasingly dictatorial regime, has virtually conceded that he did not win the March 29 presidential election.MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti said: "They are trying to cook the result. And the result that they are trying to cook is to re-engineer this election result from an outright election victory for Morgan Tsvangirai to one which would suit the matrix of a run-off."We are aware that Zanu-PF wants to put us in a position where we are frustrated and we say we are demonstrating, we say we are protesting."Why they want us to go into that direction is because they want to declare a state of emergency."
ITN | April 9, 2008
