Zimbabwe arrests second MP in fresh crackdown

Zimbabwe arrests second MP in fresh crackdown

• Opposition MP Khupe arrested, scores others held

• Mugabe puts military in centre of election

• Zim opposition demands voters' roll review

• MDC, Zanu (Ndonga) 'not fooled' by TV, radio coverage

• MDC to make poll decision in January

• MDC cries foul as constituencies erased

• MDC: 'Delimitation an exercise in deception'

• Delimitation commission erases MDC constituencies

• Mugabe swears in delimitation commission

• Zimbabwe voters' roll 'inflated by a million'

• Mugabe bars Western observers from polls

• Tsvangirai warns of Zimbabwe 'inferno'

• Call off boycott, Mogae urges MDC

• Two Zanu PF MPs lose seats

• Sparks fly over voters' roll tampering

• Zanu PF tests popularity with membership cards

• Majority Zimbabweans want MDC to stand

• Zimbabwe bars election observers

• Sadc must show its teeth, says Tsvangirai

• Mugabe retains control over elections

• Police swoop on MDC offices

• Zanu PF takes Seke after MDC boycott

• Britain, SA pressure Mugabe over reforms

• MDC threatens poll boycott, withdraws Harare councillors

• Electoral reforms to be tested in by-election

• Nigeria angrily denies funding MDC

• Zim claims Nigeria funding opposition

• 'Mugabe's compliance the litmus test for SADC protocol on democratic polls'

By Stella Mapenzauswa

ZIMBABWE'S main opposition party accused authorities on Tuesday of stepping up harassment of its members, as police arrested a second MP inside two days.

The Movement for Democratic Change's Kuwadzana MP Nelson Chamisa was seized by police in Marondera town on Tuesday, the party said in a statement. Hours earlier, they had just released another MP Thokozani Khupe, the legislator for Makokoba arrested at the weekend with tens of other activists.

The MDC has threatened to boycott parliamentary polls due in March, saying the government has repeatedly rigged elections in the southern African country.

MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi accused police of selectively applying a law requiring parties to seek clearance for public gatherings.

He also said a legislator from the ruling party had abducted and tortured three MDC youths before handing them over to the police on unspecified charges. Police were unavailable for comment on either incident, but they have repeatedly denied MDC accusations of bias in favour of the governing party.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai told Reuters on Tuesday that the party's leadership would decide on Feb. 2 or 3 whether to contest the elections.

Thokozani Khupe, MDC member of parliament in the southern city of Bulawayo, said she had been released on bail late on Monday after being arrested at the weekend.

Some 60 supporters were also briefly rested on charges of organising a political meeting without police approval, in contravention of the Public Order and Security Act, she said.

"We are not being given any opportunity to meet with the people in the run-up to the elections. I know for certain that (ruling) ZANU-PF officials are having meetings without any police clearance," Khupe told Reuters.

Nyathi appealed to the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which set new standards last year to prevent electoral fraud, to put pressure on President Robert Mugabe's government to resolve the crisis.

"The political playing field remains very flawed. We would like to bring it to the attention of the SADC leaders that in many instances the situation is deteriorating," Nyathi said.

"The police continue to interfere with the MDC's political meetings and thus prevent fair campaigning. All these factors will have a large bearing in the decision of the MDC national council on whether to participate or not," he said.

The MDC says political violence and electoral fraud cost it victory in a 2000 parliamentary polls and a 2002 presidential poll in which Mugabe won another six years in office.

Veteran leader Mugabe's ZANU-PF party denies its supporters have lodged a campaign of violence against the opposition over the past five years, and dismisses the MDC as a puppet of its Western foes led by former colonial power Britain - Reuters
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