Zimbabwe Opposition Candidate Hiding In Dutch Embassy

June 23, 2008 in International, News & Opinion, Politics & Government, Pop Culture
Tags: Condoleeza Rice, Dutch, election, Elections, embassy, Harare, International, Morgan Tsvangirai, Mugabe, Politics & Government, Rice, Robert Mugabe, Secretary, State, Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe

CNN: Zimbabwe’s opposition presidential candidate took refuge Monday at the Dutch Embassy, a day after rampant violence forced him to bail out of this week’s runoff election.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice slammed the Zimbabwean government for what she called a “continuing campaign of violence against its own people.”

“Yet another vicious assault on the opposition and its supporters for exercising their right to assemble and their right to free speech has reinforced that it is impossible for there to be a free, fair or peaceful election in Zimbabwe on June 27,” Rice said in a statement.

Morgan Tsvangirai dropped out of Friday’s presidential runoff against incumbent Robert Mugabe after youth militias loyal to Mugabe attacked a political rally at a stadium in Harare. Tsvangirai said vote rigging and violence made a fair election impossible.