gelatik
02.03.02, 02:12
Continuing the war of words with Britain, President Robert Mugabe has accused
Zimbabwe's former colonial power of supporting the opposition in next week's
election.
Mr Mugabe told supporters at a rally in eastern Zimbabwe that UK Prime Minister
Tony Blair had shown bias towards the opposition in comments to the UK
Parliament.
On Wednesday, Mr Blair said the actions of Mr Mugabe were "completely
undemocratic and wrong and dictatorial".
Britain and other countries have accused the Zimbabwean president of using
intimidation and violence to secure his re-election.
Homes destroyed
Mr Mugabe said Mr Blair could "go to hell", adding: "It's not the right or
responsibility of the British to decide on our elections."
The speech comes amid rising tensions in Zimbabwe.
On Friday, suspected supporters of Mr Mugabe's Zanu PF party destroyed 10
homes, accusing the owners of supporters of backing the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC).
Earlier this week police detained 30 MDC supporters in a raid in the capital,
Harare.
The MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, poses the greatest challenge to Mr Mugabe's
22-year rule.
Plot allegations
In a related development, Zimbabwe's Supreme Court upheld new election rules,
which the MDC says will deprive hundreds-of-thousands of people of their votes
in the presidential election.
The government created 120 constituencies, overturning traditional election
rules that allowed voters to cast their votes anywhere in the country.
The MDC says this will make voting impossible for people driven from their
homes by Zanu-PF militants.
In another earlier ruling on Wednesday, the Supreme Court threw out a law,
signed by Mr Mugabe, which his opponents said aimed to boost his election
chances.
It stipulated that only observers accredited by the government could monitor
the poll, and prevented foreign aid being used for voter education programmes.
Mr Tsvangirai has started legal action against an Australian television station
after it broadcast allegations that he plotted to kill President Robert Mugabe.
The state-owned media in Zimbabwe seized on the footage and broadcast it
repeatedly.
'Lawful opposition'
A spokesman for Mr Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti, said the allegations in the film
were false, and that the SBS television station had been
duped" by Mr Mugabe's supporters.
he said the Movement for Democratic Change was pursuing legal action "to
vindicate our name and to vindicate the truth".
"We are a lawful and loyal opposition in Zimbabwe, and there is absolutely no
way that ourselves as a party or our leadership would ever contemplate... these
sort of heinous allegations that have been made in those tapes," the spokesman
said.
Two weeks ago, SBS broadcast video footage of a secretly filmed meeting which
allegedly showed Mr Tsvangirai discussing "eliminating" Mr Mugabe.
The allegations and subsequent police action were condemned by the United
States, Britain and human rights groups as a ploy to influence the elections
and cement Mr Mugabe's rule.
