 Tsvangirai, who has set up base in neighbouring Botswana, told Canada’s The Globe and Mail newspaper that he was not returning to Zimbabwe soon for fear he could be arrested and suggested he could even be killed, although he did not say by whom.
 The Zimbabwean opposition leader, who is believed to have defeated Mugabe in a March 29 ballot, said he was using his time outside Zimbabwe to mobilise the international community to maintain pressure on Mugabe’s government.
 It is no use going back to Zimbabwe and become captive. Then you are not effective. What can you do?” he told the paper. “Do you want a dead hero?” Tsvangirai said, suggesting his life could be in danger in Zimbabwe.
 “I’m mobilising international support, I’m being effective in making sure that the issue of Zimbabwe remains on the international radar,” said Tsvangirai, adding that he had faced increasing calls from his supporters to return home.
 No official results have been released for the presidential election that the MDC leader claims he won with more than 50 percent of the vote, enough to avoid a second round run-off against Mugabe.
 But Mugabe’s ruling ZANU PF party and independent election observers say Tsvangirai won with less than 50 percent of the vote, warranting a rerun of the ballot.
 The MDC, which defeated ZANU PF in the parliamentary poll, has accused the ZEC of withholding results in a bid to fix the vote and force a re-run of the poll that it says Mugabe is preparing to use violence and terror to win.
 The opposition party said on Sunday that 10 of its supporters have been murdered to date in an orgy of violence it says started almost immediately after the MDC and other minor opposition candidates won a combined 110 seats against 97 won by ZANU PF in last month’s election.
 MDC secretary general Tendai Biti on Sunday accused Mugabe of waging war against Zimbabweans for having dared vote against his government.
 Biti told a press briefing in Johannesburg that 10 people had been killed and 3 000 displaced from their homes by ZANU PF militants and members of the state security forces. Hundreds more opposition supporters had been injured while others had been arrested by police in the crackdown, according to Biti.
 He said: “Ten people have so far been killed in Zimbabwe since March 29. The situation in Zimbabwe is desperate . . . three thousand families have been displaced. Over 400 of our activists have been detained. At least 500 have been hospitalised.”
 Both Zimbabwe’s Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi and police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena were not immediately available for comment on the matter.
 The MDC claims came as Human Rights Watch on Saturday accused Mugabe’s supporters of embarking on a campaign of torture against opponents, while Zimbabwe’s Lawyers for Human Rights group said it had documented 150 attacks on opposition supporters since the election three weeks ago.
 Zimbabwe’s election crisis is expected to last for several more weeks after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) said on Sunday it would take longer than the three days initially planned to recount votes in 23 constituencies.
 The ZEC began recounting votes in 23 constituencies after a High Court judge rejected an opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party application to block the exercise.
 The MDC says the recount is an illegal ploy by ZEC aimed at restoring control of Parliament into ZANU PF hands.
 The opposition party has said it will not accept results of the recount, a development certain to prolong an election crisis that political analysts have warned if left unresolved for too long could lead to violence and bloodshed. – ZimOnline.
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