Tsvangirai postpones Zimbabwe return after threat

Mr Tsvangirai has postponed his return to Zimbabwe indefinitely because of the alleged plot to assassinate him. The Opposition has so far given only the sketchiest details of the alleged plot and Mr Tsvangirai's spokesman George Sibotshiwe was unable to say who was behind it. "We have received information from a credible source concerning a planned assassination attempt against President Tsvangirai," he said.

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Gibson Nyandoro defected to MDC from Robert Mugabe's party, Zanu PF...Photograph: Robin Hammond When Gibson Nyandoro raised his arm and slowly unclenched his fist to make the open-palmed salute of Zimbabwe's opposition at a rally eight weeks ago, it was a moment so loaded with symbolism that it stilled the crowd.

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Since the 29 March election, when he pushed President Robert Mugabe into second place but fell short of an absolute majority, Mr Tsvangirai has spent most of his time abroad. He said he needed to rally international support against Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF government, but also admitted that he feared for his safety.

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Wade has attempted to mediate in Zimbabwe's political crisis and met opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai at a conference in Belfast this week. He said on his return to Dakar he was confident of a peaceful outcome to the crisis. "It is the African Union which must ensure the fairness of the elections so that no one contests the results," said Wade, who has criticized South African President Thabo Mbeki's efforts to end the crisis in Zimbabwe. "Zimbabwe today is divided into two more or less

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Fears of an assassination plot against Zimbabwe’s opposition leader delayed his long-awaited homecoming on Saturday ahead of an election showdown with veteran President Robert Mugabe on June 27. After more than a month out of the country, Morgan Tsvangirai had been expected back Saturday, but he switched plans at the last minute after a tip-off about a planned attempt on his life, his party said. “We received information from a credible source this morning concerning a planned assassination

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Zimbabwe For the first time, his spokesman, George Sibotshiwe, also confirmed that intelligence about an earlier assassination plot had prompted Mr. Tsvangirai, a former trade union leader, to flee Zimbabwe for Botswana in the wee hours of the morning on April 8. “I escaped with him,” Mr. Sibotshiwe said.

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Tsvangirai has been out of Zimbabwe for over a month and had been due to return from Europe on Saturday to prepare for the second round of elections against Robert Mugabe. The opposition leader beat Mugabe in the first round on March 29, but not by enough votes to avoid a second round.

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Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was to return home on Saturday bidding to deliver a knockout blow to weakened President Robert Mugabe in a run-off election scheduled for June 27. Mugabe acknowledged on Friday that he had suffered an electoral disaster in losing a first-round poll against Tsvangirai on March 29 and lambasted his party for being unprepared.

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Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai will not return to Zimbabwe on Saturday, fearing an assassination attempt, an MDC spokesperson said. Tsvangirai had been expected to return home on Saturday bidding to deliver a knockout blow to weakened President Robert Mugabe in a run-off election scheduled for June 27.

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In Qatar, Muslim, Jewish clerics meet Mugabe has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980 and once was hailed for promoting racial reconciliation and bringing education and health care to the black majority. But in recent years he has been accused of becoming authoritarian and pursuing policies that wrecked a farm-based economy that had been the thriving breadbasket of southern Africa .

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