Zimbabwe opposition leader seeks refuge

HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai sought refuge in the Dutch embassy here just hours after he pulled out of the presidential-runoff election scheduled for Friday, citing rising violence by supporters of longtime President Robert Mugabe.

Despite the opposition's withdrawal, the Zimbabwe ruling-party crackdown continued Monday, with 60 opposition activists arrested by riot police in a lunchtime raid at the opposition headquarters. Curfews and door-to-door searches also continued in suburbs of Harare, the capital.

Many of those arrested at the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) headquarters were injured in recent outbreaks of political violence and had been sleeping at the office for their safety. More than 80 activists were admitted to clinics in Harare on Sunday, beaten by ruling ZANU-PF party operatives when they tried to attend an opposition rally.

In New York, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to condemn the violence and intimidation by Zimbabwe's government and said that "a free and fair election" is impossible at this point.

The U.S., France and some other Western powers tried but failed to include language asserting that Tsvangirai should be considered the legitimate president until another fair election can be held.

Zimbabwe's U.N. ambassador, Boniface Chisdyausiku, said after the session that Friday's vote would proceed as planned and that the Security Council had no business meddling in his country's elections.

In Harare, there was no official comment from the MDC on Tsvangirai's decision to seek refuge at the Dutch embassy. Some senior MDC officials were taken by surprise by the move.

Nor were there any details about the security threat that led Tsvangirai to seek refuge, but MDC officials said the ruling party's anger over the opposition leader's withdrawal from the vote had heightened concerns over his security.

Dutch officials told The Associated Press that Tsvangirai had sought temporary political refuge, not political asylum.

Even before Tsvangirai's actions, some African leaders had begun to offer uncharacteristic criticism of Mugabe, an 84-year-old liberation hero whose defiant anti-Western rhetoric long resonated in a region with a bitter colonial past.

Tsvangirai's decision to pull out of the runoff and take refuge in a Western embassy may have been aimed at forcing his African neighbors to take a strong stand.

At a news conference in Harare late Monday, Zimbabwe's police commissioner, Augustin Chihuri, said neither Tsvangirai nor his party had reported any threats, and police were not seeking the politician.

Leaders across the world expressed concern Monday over the violence that led to Tsvangirai's move to pull out of the election, while ruling-party officials held meetings to decide how to handle the surprise move.

At the United Nations, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon took an unusually strong stand, saying, "The situation in Zimbabwe represents the single greatest challenge to regional stability in southern Africa today." And the Security Council, in its 15-0 vote, declared that the results of the initial March 29 presidential balloting "must be respected."

Zimbabwe's national-election commission ruled that Tsvangirai received the most votes in that election but not an absolute majority needed to avoid a runoff.

Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.