A Dutch foreign ministry spokesman Rob Dekker said Tsvangirai, who pulled out of Zimbabwe’s presidential election run-off on Friday because of political violence, had not sought political asylum but came to the embassy because he feared for his safety.
“He asked to come and stay because he was concerned about his safety,” Dekker said from the Dutch capital, Amsterdam.
There was no immediate comment on the matter from Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party while the Zimbabwe government, which accuses the opposition leader of being a puppet of the West, was silent on the matter on Monday.
Tsvangirai, who defeated Mugabe in the first round voting in March and remained favourite to win the run-off poll despite political violence against his supporters, announced he was pulling out of the election because a free and fair vote was impossible because of widespread political violence.
Tsvangirai said 86 members of the MDC had been killed and 200 000 others displaced in the violence and appealed to the Southern African Development Community, African Union and the United Nations to intervene to restore law and order in Zimbabwe.
Earlier on Monday, armed police raided the MDC’s Harvest House headquarters, where hundreds of victims of political violence have sought temporary shelter.
The police did not say what they were looking for but arrested dozens of supporters of the opposition party including some who were critically injured and took them away to an unknown destination.
However Tsvangirai appeared to have left the door open for negotiations with Mugabe’s government, telling South African radio on Monday that he was ready to negotiate with Mugabe’s ruling ZANU PF but only if political violence stopped.
“We are prepared to negotiate with ZANU-PF but of course it is important that certain principles are accepted before the negotiations take place. One of the preconditions is that this violence against the people must be stopped,” he said.
Violence and intimidation of Tsvangirai’s supporters erupted soon after the March polls and has worsened as the run-off date approached, with the opposition accusing the ruling party of carrying out a systematic campaign to force people not to support the opposition in the crucial run-off election.
Mugabe – who has repeatedly vowed never to hand power to the opposition that he says is a puppet of Britain and the West – denies authorising violence and instead accuses the MDC of carrying out violence in a bid to tarnish his name
The AU Commission in a statement expressed concern at the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe and said it begun consultations with AU chairman Jakaya Kikwete, the president of Tanzania, with SADC and Mbeki to see what could be done.
“This development and the increasing acts of violence in the run-up to the second round of the presidential election, are a matter of grave concern to the Commission of the AU,” Commission boss Jean Ping said in the statement.
Angola, which chairs SADC’s organ on politics and defence, said regional foreign ministers were meeting in Luanda to discuss the Zimbabwe crisis and might issue a statement later today.
SADC chairman and President of Zambia Levy Mwanawasa, who has been critical of Mugabe, called for the run-off election to be called off “to avert a catastrophe in this region”.
Western powers, led by Zimbabwe’s former colonial power Britain, have been more strident in their criticism, with British Foreign Office Minister Lord Malloch-Brown warning Mugabe’s government of new sanctions if it did not bow to international demands to allow a free and fair election.
Malloch Brown said fresh action against the Harare administration could be taken through the United Nations Security Council, the African Union and the European Union.
“I believe there is a whole range of things that can be done which can bring this regime to heel in the sense of requiring it to bend to the will of the international community and allow political change,” he told BBC Radio. – ZimOnline
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