Opposition Party Banned from Campaigning in Zimbabwe

(6 June 08 -RV)

Zimbabwe's opposition presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai was allowed to leave a police station about two hours after being ordered to drive there, but told he could not resume campaigning today.

Morgan Tsvangirai had been trying to campaign around Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second largest city. He was stopped at a roadblock and ordered to go to a police station.

Tsvangirai's campaign to unseat encumbent President Robert Mugabe has been hobbled by violence and intimidation.

Meanwhile, there are fears that humanitarian conditions for many Zimbabweans will become even worse after the government said yesterday it had indefinitely suspended all work by aid groups and non governmental organisations amid accusations that a number of them had breached their terms of registration.

We spoke with Bev Clark of the Kubatana Trust of Zimbabwe, who spoke about the desperate situation facing Zimbabwean’s.