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UK blames Mugabe for beatings
01/04/2007 21:19 - (SA)
London - British foreign secretary Margaret Beckett said on Sunday that she held Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe "responsible" for attacks on nine opposition members that showed the steps he would take to "cling on to power".
"I utterly condemn the beatings by the Zimbabwe police of those who have been arrested on charges of treason. I hold Mugabe responsible for their injuries," she said.
"This is further evidence of how low Mugabe will go to cling on to power."
Mugabe, Zimbabwe's leader since independence from Britain in 1980, was chosen on Friday to stand again as the ruling Zanu-PF party's candidate for the presidential election next year.
The move came despite him being widely blamed for the violence and economic crisis gripping the country, which has the world's highest inflation rate - 1 730% - and four out of five people out of work.
The nine opposition members who were admitted to hospital on Saturday after being injured during a police crackdown in Harare last week, have since been abducted from hospital, said a lawyer for the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) on Sunday.
Prison officials there, too
"The guys were abducted last night from hospital about 22:00 by state security agents," said Alec Muchadehama.
"They were taken from the wards without any hospital discharge cards or anything to say they had been released.
"We understand the guys who took them were also accompanied by prison officials."
Britain has been among the most-vocal opponents of the Mugabe regime and its calls of condemnation have got stronger in recent months.
Last month, Prime Minister Tony Blair said he wanted the European Union to take a tougher line with the 83-year-old Mugabe and has also called for action from the UN security council and Human Rights Commission.
Blair has labelled events in Zimbabwe "appalling, disgraceful and utterly tragic".
But Mugabe's supporters say that Britain and the United States have a personal vendetta against him.
A string of MDC officials and supporters were arrested last week in what the authorities, which have not yet reacted to the abduction claim, said was a crackdown on fire bombers accused of a series of attacks across Zimbabwe.
Tsvangirai's skull fractured
The MDC denies this, saying its members, who were charged with attempted murder over the firebombing of a Zanu-PF office, were framed.
Last month, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai had a fractured skull after being beaten by police.
Tsvangirai has said the attack against him would motivate him to keep fighting against the government.
But, Mugabe said on Friday that Tsvangirai had "asked for it", adding that Blair and US President George W Bush were "gravely mistaken" if they thought his regime had reached a tipping point.
- AFP
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