ZIMBABWE: Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai addresses rally in Harare and says he will challenge President Robert Mugabe's threat to crush mass protests "head on"

Record ID: 214405

  • Title: ZIMBABWE: Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai addresses rally in Harare and says he will challenge President Robert Mugabe's threat to crush mass protests "head on"
  • Date: 24th April 2006
  • Summary: (BN15) HARARE, ZIMBABWE (APRIL 23, 2006) (REUTERS) CLOSE UP: ZIMBABWE'S OPPOSITION LEADER (MOVEMENT FOR DEMOCRATIC CHANGE), MORGAN TSVANGIRAI
  • Embargoed: 9th May 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Zimbabwe
  • Country: Zimbabwe
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAKI3DWUGSMI83LQR7JVNIWC78
  • Story Text: Zimbabwe's opposition leader on Sunday (April 23) defied President Robert Mugabe's threat to crush mass protests, saying he would confront the challenge "head on" by taking his fight into the ruling party's rural strongholds.
    Morgan Tsvangirai, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) president, has called for peaceful mass action to drive Mugabe from power but his call has provoked threats from the veteran Zimbabwe leader who said his opponents were "playing with fire".
    Addressing more than 5,000 supporters in Harare, Tsvangirai was defiant.
    "Let's all commit ourselves for the ultimate prize," Tsvangirai said. "We are going to rally with Zimbabweans in urban areas...rally for the call of peaceful resistence against this regime," he added.
    Tsvangirai has held rallies in Zimbabwe's main cities and towns rallying people to prepare for anti-Mugabe protests.
    "This is a test of the final phase of this struggle. The test of leadership, the test of the vision of this country...to create a new Zimbabwe for everyone," he told cheering crowds.
    Tsvangirai, a former trade unionist, would not say when the protests would start or give any details.
    "The struggle continues until final victory, the struggle continues in the township, in the villiages, in the streets, everywhere in Zimbabwe. Mugabe must read the national mood," Tsvangirai said.
    Political and economic analysts say rising prices of basic foodstuffs, public transport and housing is stoking anger in an urban population already struggling with breaking sewerage systems, water and electricity cuts, uncollected garbage and roads riddled with potholes.
    But they say the MDC still needs to shore up support for a unified stand against Mugabe's forces, with the military, police and security agencies still seen firmly behind the man who has ruled the country since independence from Britain in 1980.
    On Sunday Tsvangirai mocked the security forces saying they were being called to defend Mugabe when they were also affected by an economic crisis dramatised by the world's highest inflation rate, growing joblessness and shortages of foreign exchange, fuel and food.
    Previous MDC protests have been met with tough tactics by Mugabe's security forces, the last being in June 2002 dubbed "final push" to drive Mugabe from power. It failed and led to Tsvangirai's arrest on treason charges.
    Tsvangirai, who has led the MDC since its formation in 1999, has been constantly outmanoeuvred by Mugabe but analysts say he has emerged from his party's recent split intent on taking the battle to the veteran 82-year-old leader.
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