Tanzanian president to meet embattled Mugabe

DAR ES SALAAM – Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete flew to meet Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe yesterday following growing international condemnation of a weekend crackdown on opposition demonstrators.

“President Jakaya Kikwete has left for Harare for a one-day official visit. While in Zimbabwe, he will hold talks with his host President Robert Mugabe,” according to a statement released by the Tanzanian leader’s press unit.Tanzania heads the political, security and defence bureau of the South African Development Community (SADC), of which Zimbabwe is a member.The SADC is a southern African regional bloc promoting development and democracy in the region.Officials said Kikwete, a respected diplomat and peacemaker, was hoping to cool tensions in Zimbabwe that threaten to explode in the impoverished south African nation.Pressure has piled on Mugabe after police on Sunday crushed an opposition Movement for Democratic Change rally in the capital and arrested its leader Morgan Tsvangirai and other opposition activists for defying a police ban.Police bludgeoned Tsvangirai and several of his supporters while in custody on Sunday.There has been stiff international condemnation of the police action which critics said was a dramatic escalation of Mugabe’s opposition crackdown.Harare has warned those aiming to oust the 83-year-old Mugabe, who has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980, would ‘pay a very heavy price’.Nampa-AFPWhile in Zimbabwe, he will hold talks with his host President Robert Mugabe,” according to a statement released by the Tanzanian leader’s press unit.Tanzania heads the political, security and defence bureau of the South African Development Community (SADC), of which Zimbabwe is a member.The SADC is a southern African regional bloc promoting development and democracy in the region.Officials said Kikwete, a respected diplomat and peacemaker, was hoping to cool tensions in Zimbabwe that threaten to explode in the impoverished south African nation.Pressure has piled on Mugabe after police on Sunday crushed an opposition Movement for Democratic Change rally in the capital and arrested its leader Morgan Tsvangirai and other opposition activists for defying a police ban.Police bludgeoned Tsvangirai and several of his supporters while in custody on Sunday.There has been stiff international condemnation of the police action which critics said was a dramatic escalation of Mugabe’s opposition crackdown.Harare has warned those aiming to oust the 83-year-old Mugabe, who has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980, would ‘pay a very heavy price’.Nampa-AFP