Tsvangirai: Security Council Must Stop Massacres in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe opposition leader will leave Dutch embassy if he is promised security.
June 24, 2008— -- The terror in Zimbabwe continues as nearly 100 supporters of the opposition party have reportedly been killed, with thousands more tortured or wounded. The military has blocked off about three-quarters of the country, barring access to polling agents. Witness accounts of violence in those places abound.
Today, the opposition headquarters were raided, and women and children, who had sought refuge there, were dragged away by riot police. In this violent and corrupt election, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai took refuge inside the Dutch embassy.
Tsvangirai was fleeing soldiers when he took refuge at the Dutch Embassy in Harare, Senegal's president said, offering some of the first details on the latest twist in the southern African's country's political crisis.
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade made the comment in a statement released late Monday about his attempts to mediate in the Zimbabwean crisis.
Tsvangirai said he planned to leave the embassy today or Wednesday after receiving assurances from the regime that he will not be harmed.
Tsvangirai spoke to ABC, making a plea to the United Nations. "The Security Council has an obligation to stop the massacre, the deaths that are taking place in Zimbabwe. And I think the best way would be to send a mission to Zimbabwe to investigate the massacres and make those who are accountable, accountable for those massacres."
The architect of the terror campaign is Zimbabwe's 84-year-old President Robert Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe with an iron fist for nearly 30 years, meeting virtually every challenge from the opposition, and claiming he was appointed by God. Tsvangirai points out that Mugabe "has said so himself that he will not accept any outcome that does not guarantee his victory, and even if he loses, he will not hand over power."
He believes that the real problem is not the outcome of this particular election, but Mugabe's resistance to ceding power.
"The whole campaign has been literally a one-man show," he said, "I, as a leading contender, have not been allowed to campaign."
But the opposition leader also suggested it wasn't just Mugabe who was accountable for the massacres across the country.
"I think it's Mugabe and his military junta who literally have usurped the power of the state because they want to protect their loot."
Yet, he did not blame others for inaction or a lack of effort to stop Mugabe.
"It's not lack of effort. I think it's the entitlement and the defiance of the man in [Zimbabwe's capital city] Harare who actually undermines those who want to help." he said.
The White House is seeking a strong condemnation at the Security Council through what is called a presidential statement.The Associated Press contributed to this report
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