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ZIMBABWEAN police have arrested two foreign journalists at a hotel in the capital Harare on suspicion of reporting without press accreditation, a spokesman said.

Paramilitary police in riot gear raided the hotel used by foreign journalists and took away three or four reporters, according to a man who answered the phone at the hotel.

Police had surrounded the hotel, witnesses said, as the country awaits the result of a tense presidential vote.

"I can only confirm that we have arrested two foreign journalists at York Lodge," national police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena told Agence France-Presse.

"They are being investigated for practising without accreditation. They were picked up early this evening and taken to police custody."

Bvudzijena gave no details on either the names or the nationality of those arrested.

The Zimbabwean authorities, which barred most foreign media from covering last weekend's polls, warned a week ago they would deal severely with any journalists who sneaked into the country and were caught operating illegally.

Meanwhile, a top opposition official said police had raided their offices at a Harare hotel in what he called the start of a "crackdown".

Opposition party secretary-general Tendai Biti told The Associated Press that police raided and ransacked several rooms used by the party at the downtown Meikles hotel. No one was arrested.

The situation is tense in the capital as Zimbabweans await to see if President Robert Mugabe has been defeated in his quest for a sixth term.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change claims its leader Morgan Tsvangirai won Saturday's presidential poll outright.

There has still been no official word on the outcome five days after the ballot, but the election commission announced overnight that the MDC had won control of parliament.

Mugabe's ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front has indicated it is gearing for a second round run-off and has called a meeting of its politburo on Friday to discuss the election outcome. - AP
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