July 2001 Africa News Headlines

Monday, July 23, 2001 - Web posted at 11:33:28 GMT

Zimbabwe opposition says leader's convoy shot at

HARARE - Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and senior members of his movement were shot at and stoned as they drove to a rally in Bindura, north of Harare, on Sunday, a party spokesman said on Monday.

The independent Daily News said five opposition members were seriously injured, but Tsvangirai and his senior aides were unhurt in the attack.

The spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Learnmore Jongwe, told Reuters shots were fired and stones thrown at Tsvangirai's convoy as he drove to a rally in preparation for next weekend's by-election in Bindura, 100 km northeast of Harare.

"The convoy was attacked with stones and shots were fired. From the way the shots were fired straight at his vehicle it was in our view a clear attempt at the life of our president (Tsvangirai)," Jongwe told Reuters.

He blamed the attack on supporters of President Robert Mugabe and the ruling ZANU-PF party.

He said Tsvangirai had gone on to address the rally despite the attack because "we are determined to bring a democratic change in this country".

Police spokesman, Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena, said he had no immediate comment on the incident.

The Bindura seat fell vacant following the death earlier this year of Deputy Youth and Gender Minister Border Gezi.

Political violence has flared up in Bindura ahead of the vote, whose result is seen as a key pointer to next year's presidential elections, in which Tsvangirai poses an unprecedented challenge to Mugabe's 21-year grip on power.

The MDC narrowly lost to Mugabe's ZANU-PF in last year's parliamentary elections, preceded by violent clashes which left at least 31 people dead, most of them opposition supporters.

Mugabe charges the MDC is a puppet of local whites and his Western opponents who, he says, want to unseat him in retaliation for his drive to seize white-owned farms for redistribution to landless blacks.

Among the 31 people killed last year were five farmers whose properties were illegally occupied by war veterans and ruling party supporters who have invaded white farms since February 2000 with government approval. Nampa-Reuters

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