Reuters - February 4, 2002

LONDON (Reuters) - A British newspaper said on Tuesday its correspondent in Zimbabwe had been arrested and charged under the country's new Public Order and Security Act, less than a week after it came into effect.

The Independent said its reporter, Basildon Peta, who is secretary-general of the Zimbabwean Union of Journalists, was being held in the central police station in Harare and was expected to appear in court on Tuesday.

Peta was charged with failing to notify the authorities about a demonstration last Wednesday by the journalists' union against the new legislation. He could be jailed for two years under the charges, the newspaper said.

Peta was able to make a brief phone call to his wife, Florence. ``He told me he was fine and not to worry,'' she said, ''but I think he is in low spirits.''

Peta, a Zimbabwean national, is the first correspondent for the international media to be arrested under the act, which makes it a crime to criticize or ridicule the President.

It prescribes a death sentence or life imprisonment for anyone convicted of ``insurgency, banditry, sabotage or terrorism.''

The Independent said police had regularly harassed Peta and he was threatened with jail over articles he wrote for The Independent and other media.

Last year his name topped a security service hit-list of opposition figures. Peta and four other journalists were to be ''killed or harmed'' before the presidential election, The Independent said.

Police told Peta before his arrest on Monday they were acting on orders from the highest levels of the government of President Robert Mugabe.

The Independent said police ransacked Peta's house over the weekend and he was told to go to the police station on Monday.

The latest crackdown came as the European Union said it would impose no sanctions on Mugabe for now because he was not blocking deployment of EU election observers.

EU foreign ministers agreed last week to impose ``smart sanctions'' on Mugabe and 19 top associates if Harare prevented the observers deploying by February 3.

The observers are to check on opposition fears Mugabe will rig a March presidential election in which he faces his stiffest challenge in 22 years since leading the country to independence.

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's leading opposition party accused President Robert Mugabe's party on Monday of killing three of its activists and abducting four in the buildup to March elections.

The EU said Zimbabwe had fended off a threat of sanctions by allowing it to send in election observers, but confusion surrounded the question. An EU spokeswoman in Brussels said observers had arrived, but EU diplomats in Harare said they had not.

Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the chief opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), launched his campaign on Sunday to sever Mugabe's 22-year hold on power in presidential elections set for March 9-10.

Tsvangirai appealed for calm from his supporters, despite what he described as a ``campaign of violence'' waged by Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.

MDC Secretary-General Welshman Ncube said in a statement that ZANU-PF militants had also tried to violently break up at least four MDC rallies over the weekend, assaulting opposition supporters in front of police.

``Over the past week, ZANU-PF has murdered three MDC activists,'' Ncube said, adding that the latest fatality was Tichaona Katsamudanga, who died on Monday after an attack last month.

``Yesterday (Sunday) ZANU-PF supporters... abducted four MDC supporters in Chipinge South,'' he added. ``They are still missing.'' The ZANU-PF and police were unavailable for comment.

The MDC says nearly 100 of its supporters have died in political violence since early 2000, when militants loyal to Mugabe began invading white-owned farms.

``I know there are those among us clamoring for revenge. I want to tell you that we cannot afford that,'' Tsvangirai said. ''When we come to power we will pursue a policy of reconciliation because that is the only way to build a country.''

On Friday, Mugabe insisted it was the MDC that was fueling unrest and told supporters as he launched his own election campaign: ``We don't condone violence, but I'm not saying you should fold your hands if you are provoked.''

BIGGEST THREAT

Tsvangirai, 49, is seen as the biggest threat to Mugabe's bid to extend a presidency that the MDC says has ruined a once-vibrant economy and isolated the country internationally.

EU foreign ministers agreed last week to impose ``smart sanctions'' on Mugabe and 19 top associates if Harare prevented deployment of EU observers by a Sunday deadline.

In Brussels, a European Commission spokeswoman said a six-strong advance team had arrived in Zimbabwe. The observers will check on opposition claims that Mugabe plans to rig the vote.

``There has been no attempt to prevent us deploying some of the individuals who will take part in the core team,'' Commission spokeswoman Emma Udwin told a news conference, adding that some had already arrived. ``So there is no need to take a decision on sanctions.''

But an official at the EU office in Harare said no observers had yet arrived in Zimbabwe.

``There are no observers in the country. We have not yet received an invitation from the Zimbabwe government,'' the official said. He declined to be named and would not give further details.

International condemnation of Mugabe's government has mounted as Zimbabwe pushes through parliament laws which opponents say set the stage for a dictatorship.

The latest, on Thursday, was a tough media bill that critics say will stifle debate in the run-up to the poll by restricting access for foreign reporters and imposing tight controls on local media.

A United Nations special investigator for media freedom accused Zimbabwe on Monday of violating article 19 of the U.N.'s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which upholds freedom of opinion and expression.

Abid Hussain said he had written to Mugabe's government urging it to repeal the media law.

Mugabe has remained defiant. On Saturday, he vowed again that his controversial program of seizures of land from affluent white farmers would continue, calling the policy ``the last Zimbabwe revolution.''

At least nine white farmers have been killed and hundreds of workers have been assaulted in land invasions by pro-government militants since February 2000.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- Two gasoline bombs were hurled Monday at provincial offices of Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper, which the government has accused of supporting the opposition.

A gasoline bomb also was thrown at a nearby print shop in Bulawayo, about 230 miles southwest of Harare. The print shop had printed some opposition election campaign material.

Neither premises was seriously damaged.

The attacks are the latest political violence ahead of presidential elections on March 9-10. President Robert Mugabe, 77, and his increasingly unpopular ruling party are fighting for political survival after nearly 22 years in power.

Mdududzi Mathuthu, The Daily News' chief reporter in Bulawayo, said the bombs smashed a plate glass window at the entrance to the paper's offices, burning a carpet in the lobby. No one was inside and there was no damage to the upstairs offices.

On Thursday, ruling party militants pasted Mugabe's campaign posters on the street-level windows. While cleaners were removing them, militants warned staff to leave the posters or their office would be burned down, Mathuthu said.

Owners at printers Daily Print said the firm had produced campaign material for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. Damage to the shop was minimal.

No comment was immediately available from police.

Opposition activists on Sunday accused ruling party supporters of attacking them to prevent an election rally at Gokwe, 200 miles west of Harare.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- The head of a European Union electoral mission demanded to know the fate of his team Tuesday after the government said that he and other members from five countries would not be allowed to monitor Zimbabwe's presidential vote.

The standoff erupted after President Robert Mugabe's government said it won't accredit observers from Britain, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany and The Netherlands to monitor the March 9-10 vote. It accused them of favoring the opposition.

The Swedish EU mission chief, Pierre Schori, was among those the government said it won't accredit. It is not clear how many of the slated 150 observers came from the six countries. Thirteen observers from other countries arrived in Harare on Tuesday.

Schori said he was awaiting clarification from the government on his status and ``how the government looks on the EU mission in general.''

``There must be a clear position. It is a serious matter,'' Schori, Sweden's ambassador to the United Nations, said Tuesday. He arrived in Harare late Sunday.

Critics and some foreign governments charge that Mugabe is cracking down on his opponents ahead of the vote, in which he faces the most serious challenge yet to his 22-year rule, from opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. His government has passed laws giving security forces broad powers to jail opponents and control the media.

In Brussels, Belgium, the EU head office said it awaited official confirmation of the refusal to accredit the observers. Government officials have stated the decision on state-run television, but monitors say they have not been informed directly.

The EU has threatened to impose sanctions if it cannot freely monitor the elections. ``We hope very much we don't have to go there,'' said EU spokeswoman Emma Udwin.

Sanctions may be discussed as early as Wednesday at a meeting of ambassadors of the 15 EU nations, or at an EU foreign ministers meeting next Monday, officials said.

EU sanctions could mean a ban on travel to Europe for Zimbabwean officials or on certain exports. They could freeze Zimbabwean bank accounts in the EU.

On state television, Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge said Monday that observers from only nine of the 15 EU members had been invited to monitor campaigning and polling.

The report described Schori as ``a mere tourist to Zimbabwe'' who had not been cleared to lead the observer delegation. The government gave him a two-week tourist visa.

The station said Zimbabwe wants the EU observers be led by the African, Caribbean and Pacific grouping of nations to which the EU is allied through trade agreements.

It was not clear what action the government would take if Schori and other barred Europeans tried to monitor voting.

The opposition narrowly lost to Mugabe's party in parliamentary elections in June 2000, a vote marred by violence. Schori headed the EU observer delegation to those polls. He said that vote was not free and fair.

Germany and the Nordic countries have been outspoken critics of human rights violations in Zimbabwe.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- Zimbabwe's government forced Europe's top election observer to leave the country Saturday, deepening a dispute with the European Union that threatens to further isolate the southern African country.

Zimbabwe had refused to recognize Pierre Schori, Sweden's ambassador to the United Nations, as head of the 150-member European observer mission for March 9-10 presidential elections in which President Robert Mugabe faces the biggest challenge yet to his 22-year hold on power.

Zimbabwean officials only granted Schori a two-week tourist visa when he entered the country on Feb. 10. But Schori said immigration officials canceled his visa as of midnight Saturday after ``the government had decided that I must leave today.''

He said he had been told Friday that he could stay in Zimbabwe as a tourist provided he refrained from making any public statements, a demand repeated by a government official in published comments Saturday.

``The purpose of my visit was to lead the EU observation mission. This, necessarily, involves making public statements and speaking to the media,'' Schori told reporters before boarding a flight that left for London late Saturday.

On Friday, EU officials threatened to withdraw all EU observers and impose sanctions against Zimbabwe if Schori was thrown out. There was no comment from EU officials Saturday, but Schori said the status of the mission would be discusses at EU headquarters in Brussels on Monday.

While agreeing last month to accept an EU mission, Zimbabwe said it would not accredit Schori, other Swedish observers or representatives from Britain, Zimbabwe's former colonial ruler, Denmark, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands.

The government accuses those countries of bias in favor of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, whose leader is challenging Mugabe in the vote.

Home Affairs Minister John Nkomo said the government took serious exception to Schori's ``continued political utterances,'' the state-run Herald newspaper reported Saturday.

``He is obviously trying to cheat his way into being recognized as an accredited observer. He must desist from making political statements or anything remotely connected to the presidential election,'' the paper quoted Nkomo as saying.

There was no comment from the government Saturday Schori's departure.

Schori said the EU General Affairs Committee, comprising its 15 foreign ministers, was scheduled to discuss a report he has submitted on the status of the observers mission on Monday.

Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh said Friday that if Schori was thrown out, it would ``prove that Zimbabwe does not want a free and fair election.''

She said the remaining 30 election observers probably would be withdrawn as well and that sanctions -- including cutting off foreign aid and freezing the assets of Zimbabwe's leaders -- would likely be imposed.

Schori said his departure left him with feelings ``more of sorrow than anger.''

``The decision to revoke my visa provides a particularly unfortunate twist in the ongoing dispute between the Zimbabwe government and the EU over election observation,'' he said.

``I have seen poor people living in shacks alongside fortified mansions. I have seen that the people want to go out and vote,'' he said.

Zimbabwe has been wracked for two years by political violence that opposition supporters, human rights activists and many international officials blame on the ruling party. Mugabe's popularity has plunged in recent years amid economic and political chaos.

In London, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Zimbabwean Embassy Saturday, calling for fairness and transparency in the elections.

The demonstrators, mainly former residents of the southern African nation, said Mugabe was using bloody tactics to secure his re-election.

HARARE (Reuters) - European Union (news - web sites) election observers prepared to pull out of Zimbabwe on Tuesday, a day after the EU imposed sanctions against President Robert Mugabe and his inner circle for refusing to let them do their job.

The first of 26 EU observers were expected to leave the violence-racked southern African nation where Mugabe will face the biggest election challenge to his 22 years in power from opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in a March 9-10 presidential election.

Zimbabwe reacted defiantly to the EU actions, saying it amounted to "economic terrorism."

The 15 foreign ministers imposed a ban on travel to European Union countries by Mugabe and 19 close associates, and a freeze on their assets in the EU, after hearing a report from Pierre Schori, the head of the observer mission who was expelled by Zimbabwe on Saturday.

Schori, a Swedish diplomat ordered to leave after being accused of "political arrogance," said he had recommended sanctions because law and order was unraveling in the country.

"Overall, there are no grounds for an effective or credible EU observer mission," Schori said.

The European Union sanctions also include an embargo on the supply of arms and technical advice and of equipment which could be used for internal repression in Zimbabwe.

Mugabe's Information Minister Jonathan Moyo charged that the EU was hiding behind the cover of democracy to protect white minority interests in the former British colony which Mugabe led to independence in 1980.

"It is very clear that what we are now dealing with is organized economic terrorism whose aim is clear and is to unseat a legitimately elected government which has decided to defend its national independence and national sovereignty," Moyo told Reuters.

DEFIANT RESPONSE

Moyo said the Zimbabwean government would survive the sanctions in the same way that Iraq, Libya and Cuba survived Western sanctions.

"These sanctions will have no material impact on us and on the country because we will overcome them," he said.

Political analysts say the sanctions will affect some of Mugabe's officials who are believed to have considerable investments in Europe.

But the analysts say that because the sanctions have been threatened for a long time, some might have already moved their wealth.

While the EU ministers debated the crisis in Brussels, Mugabe supporters in Harare hurled stones at the main office of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change, smashing windows and forcing pedestrians to flee.

Riot police arrested dozens of protesters, witnesses said.

British Foreign Minister Jack Straw said on Monday the EU would monitor the situation in Zimbabwe very closely over the coming weeks.

Asked if the United States might follow the EU's lead, Straw said: "It is a matter for them...but I have been in very close consultations with Secretary of State (Colin) Powell."

Some countries are worried that the targeted sanctions would play into Mugabe's hands, allowing him to crack down harder on the opposition as he fights to retain power in the poll.

Regional diplomatic powerhouse South Africa on Monday said the EU's moves were regrettable and would fail to achieve its desired result.

By RACHEL L. SWARNS

JOHANNESBURG, Feb. 18 — After wavering for weeks, the European Union voted tonight to impose tough sanctions on Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, and more than a dozen of his top aides.

Meeting in Brussels, the European Union's foreign ministers said they were left with little choice after the government expelled the head of the European election observer mission on Saturday.

The sanctions, which come three weeks before Zimbabwe's presidential election, will bar Mr. Mugabe and 19 others from traveling to European Union nations.

They will also freeze any European assets held by Mr. Mugabe and the advisers, including the commander of the armed forces and the ministers of security, justice, land and information.

The measures prohibit member nations from selling Zimbabwe arms or equipment that "could be used for internal repression." The Europeans said they were concerned about political violence in Zimbabwe, which is lurching toward its most fiercely contested presidential election since white rule ended in 1980. They said the expulsion of Pierre Schori, the Swedish head of the European mission, left them doubtful that the election would be free and fair.

Zimbabwean officials, who assailed the sanctions tonight, said they expelled Mr. Schori because they had decided not to accredit observers from Britain, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands or Sweden. They said those countries had led the charge against Mr. Mugabe and had financed and supported his rivals.

"There is no basis in international law for the actions they are taking," the justice minister, Patrick Chinamasa, said tonight in a telephone interview. "We are not a colony of Europe. We have a right to determine who visits our country and who doesn't."

European Union officials said that they would withdraw their 30 accredited electoral observers from Zimbabwe on Tuesday and that sanctions would begin immediately.

American officials said tonight that they were also considering imposing sanctions on Mr. Mugabe's government.

The European decision was hailed by members of the opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change, who have accused the Europeans of dithering while government critics were harassed and jailed.

"It's belated, but I think it's the only logical step for the E.U. to take," said Morgan Tsvangirai, the party leader. But the imposition of sanctions was greeted with ambivalence by some European and African nations. Some officials fear that the European Union's move will only strengthen hard-liners in Mr. Mugabe's government at a time when there have been some signs of moderation.

Under pressure from moderates within the governing party, the authorities recently removed some harsh elements from a tough media law, and have allowed the opposition to hold some rallies. This week, the government formally invited some American and European news organizations to cover the election.

But opposition officials pointed to the violence that erupted today in Zimbabwe as proof that little has changed. The opposition reported that hundreds of government supporters stoned the opposition party headquarters in Harare, the capital.

Today, the police also arrested David Coltart, a prominent opposition legislator, and charged him with discharging a firearm in an urban area. He denied the charge, saying the arrest was part of a harassment campaign.

Mr. Chinamasa, who was among the officials sanctioned, said the Europeans were trying to smear officials by suggesting that they had bank accounts abroad, a charge he denied. The European Union could not provide information about any of the assets tonight.

Mr. Chinamasa said the European Union was trying to stop the government from undoing the legacy of colonialism by redistributing land from the white minority to the black majority.

"We will go ahead with our election regardless of whether or not there are European observers are not," he said. African election observers remain in the country.

In South Africa, senior officials described the European Union decision as "regrettable and unfortunate." President Thabo Mbeki has sharply criticized Mr. Mugabe's attacks on his critics and the violence in Zimbabwe, but officials believe that Zimbabwe needs more, not fewer, election observers to ensure that voting is fair.

They said the European Union's withdrawal of its team, which at full strength would have had 150 members, might hurt, instead of helping.

"We believe sanctions will not achieve the intended results, but on the contrary may further compound the situation," said Ronnie Mamoepa, a spokesman for South Africa's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe returns to the election trail Wednesday amid signs the United States is preparing to follow the European Union in imposing sanctions against the country's leadership.

Mugabe was scheduled to address a rally of his ruling ZANU-PF party in the opposition stronghold of Matabeleland to drum up support for his campaign in the March 9-10 presidential election.

The rally will be the first opportunity for Mugabe, in power since leading the country to independence from Britain in 1980, to speak out against the EU's decision Monday to freeze assets held in the European Union by Zimbabwe's ruling elite.

The sanctions, imposed after the head of the EU election monitoring mission was expelled from Zimbabwe Saturday, also impose a ban on travel to EU countries by Mugabe's inner circle.

All members of the 26-strong EU observer team which was to have monitored the election were pulled out.

The United States said Tuesday it strongly supported the EU sanctions and was preparing a similar package to limit U.S. travel by Zimbabwe's leaders.

``We've been working through this process to implement targeted travel sanctions that focus on the individuals responsible for or who benefit from politics that undermine Zimbabwe's democratic institutions,'' State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

``We're moving rapidly toward the final implementation of that plan but I don't have a formal announcement,'' he added.

The United States, like the European Union, has been strongly critical of Mugabe's restrictions on the media and of intimidation of the opposition by his supporters.

Analysts said the EU sanctions underlined how isolated Mugabe and his top aides had become but added that in public the veteran leader would brandish the penalty as a badge of honor.

In the final lap before elections next month Mugabe could try to use the sanctions as a political weapon, posing to Zimbabwe's electorate as a victim of Western bullying, they said.

The EU travel ban affects families of the leadership, including children studying at schools in European Union countries.

The sanctions also include an embargo on the supply of arms and technical advice and of equipment which could be used for internal repression in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe has said the package of measures amounted to ''economic terrorism.''

Tension is rising in Zimbabwe, where Mugabe will face the biggest challenge to his 22-year rule from opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai who heads the Movement for Democratic Change.

The EU's withdrawal leaves teams from the Commonwealth, South Africa and Norway to oversee Zimbabwe's poll. Officials say they also expect to accredit observers from the Southern African Development Community and the so-called ACP group of African, Caribbean and Pacific nations.

By RACHEL L. SWARNS

MESSINA, South Africa — Every night, the emigrants from the Zimbabwe side of the border creep to the rushing river and consider the dangers ahead. There are crocodiles ready to topple stealthy boats. There are twists of barbed wire and miles of electrified fence.

But they look across the river and pine for South Africa, a land of stability and hope.

Silungisani Sibanda, 28, stands on the riverbank in Zimbabwe and watches the sparkling lights in the other world. She thinks about her empty cupboards, her anxious mother and her hungry son. She decides to take her chances.

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe turned 78 this month, and with elections looming he is urging citizens to remember him as the liberator who ended white rule and presided over 22 years of democracy. But as he rallies for support, thousands of voters like Ms. Sibanda are quietly fleeing a nation that is increasingly beset by hunger and violence.

Over the last six weeks, more than 7,000 emigrants from Zimbabwe have been caught slipping into this sleepy border town. South African officials say that figure is three times the number of people held during similar periods last year.

No one knows how many are sneaking in undetected, but officials expect the influx to surge before the Zimbabwean election, set for March 9 and 10. Fearful that civil unrest or a military coup might follow the voting, the South African government is preparing a military base here to house as many as 70,000 refugees, military officials say.

The exodus is one reflection of Zimbabwe's deepening political and economic woes. Once one of the most prosperous countries in Africa, Zimbabwe is now racked with food shortages, surging unemployment and an increasingly authoritarian government that seems more and more willing to crack down on its critics. Zimbabwe's generals recently suggested that they would not support the opposition party's candidate, leading some officials here to worry about a possible coup. Others fear that opposition supporters will take to the streets if their leader loses.

Mr. Mugabe, who has run Zimbabwe since white rule ended in 1980, is facing the toughest political contest of his career. In the fierce battle for votes, he has encouraged poor blacks to invade white-owned farms and has condoned attacks on his rivals.

He has blamed Britain, Zimbabwe's colonial ruler, for the collapse of his mismanaged economy, and he has accused whites of demonizing him as a way to derail his plan to redistribute land from the white minority to the black majority.

Those who wiggle through the barbed wire here or creep under the bridge that links Zimbabwe to South Africa describe shortages of cornmeal and cooking oil and tell of beatings and intimidation. The United Nations says more than half a million of Zimbabwe's 11 million people need emergency food aid.

"The Zimbabwe situation at this stage is deteriorating," said Col. Tol Snyman, a South African officer whose soldiers patrol the border. "We're getting a large influx, and we're expecting more to come through."

Colonel Snyman says Zimbabwe's deepening troubles have changed the profile of the emigrants. Two years ago, he said, most were traders in their 30's and 40's who crossed the border to buy cheap goods and crept back to sell them. They came with money in their pockets, he said, and hailed from towns near the border.

Today, the emigrants are younger, often teenagers who have given up on a country that once prided itself on expanding education and opportunities for its black majority. In many cases, older relatives who cannot support them send the young people out of the country to look for work.

They come from as far north as Harare, Zimbabwe's capital, which is more than 300 miles away, and many arrive hungry. Of late, several have asked for refugee status, saying they feared political retaliation if they were sent home.

"Before, they came through with money and their clothes were neat," Colonel Snyman said. "Now they haven't had food for two or three days.

"It's heartbreaking to see some of these souls from the other side," he added. "But we have a job to do. We must arrest those persons."

One of those arrested was Ms. Sibanda, caught while she was creeping under the bridge on the Limpopo River. She said her mother and 10- year-old son had gone for two months without any cornmeal, Zimbabwe's staple food.

"These days, we are drinking tea and eating bread only," she said.

She told her story as she sat in a white pickup truck along with several other people being sent back to Zimbabwe. She had hoped to find a job and send the money home.

Instead, she was going back empty-handed.

"My mother will cry when she sees me," Ms. Sibanda said bitterly. "There is no food."

During bumper years in the 1990's, Zimbabwe produced so much grain that it exported its surplus. Harare was full of successful young professionals who had been nurtured by Mr. Mugabe's government, which expanded access to education and health care in the 1980's.

But the government has repeatedly mismanaged its spending, and its fiscal policy has been characterized by chronic budget overruns. The economy has also been hurt by external factors like the falling prices of tobacco and gold, two droughts, the farm invasions and the waves of political violence that have frightened off foreign investors and tourists.

Today, many young professionals are seeking jobs abroad. Others take their chances on the border. Last year, 19,932 arrests of people trying to cross into South Africa were made here, up from 10,738 in 1998. As they waited to be deported, several young Zimbabweans shared their stories.

Nkosinathi Kubeka, a 28-year-old unemployed bookkeeper, said he decided to sneak across the border because he could not find a way to support his mother and four siblings.

Mandla Ngwenya, 21, dreamed of working on the railroad. He finished high school, but could not find work and could not afford college, he said.

Then government-backed militants started knocking on doors in his village. They were ordering people to invade white farms, he said. Those who refused were beaten. "Even old people were beaten," said Mr. Ngwenya, who said he saw the beatings last year.

"I had never thought of coming to South Africa," he said. "But when I saw that, that's when I started thinking about leaving. There are no jobs and there is no democracy in our country. We were just born in the wrong place."

Mr. Ngwenya and the others were deported earlier in February along with about a thousand other emigrants who had made their way as far as Johannesburg before being captured.

They were loaded on a train, clutching what they could carry: a bottle of orange soda, a loaf of bread, a collection of pots, a pocket Bible.

One man carried a car battery in a box. "For my radio," he explained.

When the train pulled out, some women sang their farewells: "Goodbye South Africa, goodbye!" A few waited until the guards turned their heads and then jumped out the windows of the moving train to avoid returning home.

The others who stayed on board knew it was the end of the line when the train shuddered into this border town the next morning.

The young, disheveled deportees stumbled from the grimy train to face the blazing heat and an uncertain future. But there were few tears.

Cpl. Makola Bodiba, who patrols the border, watches almost every day as trucks carry people back to Zimbabwe. The vehicles rumble away in clouds of dust and for a moment the border seems impenetrable. But Corporal Bodiba knows that when night falls, boats will cross the river, shadows will slip across the grass, and bodies will wiggle through the electrified fence.

That is why so few deportees weep, people here say. They believe they will be coming back.

"Sometimes we catch the same people every day in the same week," Corporal Bodiba said. "They say there is too much hardship at home."

HARARE, Zimbabwe (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's opposition leader was charged with treason Monday but said he would still challenge President Robert Mugabe in an election less than two weeks away.

Morgan Tsvangirai said the charge, which he denied, was part of government moves to wreck his campaign to oust Mugabe, who has held power since independence from Britain in 1980.

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader was summoned to police headquarters in Harare Monday to answer questions over an alleged plot, based on a mysterious videotape, to assassinate the 78-year-old Mugabe.

``For some time now they've been trying to eliminate me from the political process and this is part of that process,'' Tsvangirai told reporters after he was charged with an offence which carries the death penalty in Zimbabwe.

Tension in the southern Africa country is rising rapidly ahead of the March 9-10 election.

Last week, independent elections observers were caught up in an attack on an MDC office, police shot at Tsvangirai's campaign convoy, and self-styled liberation war veterans forced a white farmer and his family to flee their property.

The United States and European Union clamped sanctions on the President and his inner circle in the same week.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged Mugabe's government Monday not to tamper with the election.

``The situation in Zimbabwe is worrying,'' Annan told reporters after meeting Prime Minister Tony Blair in London -- before news of the charge against Tsvangirai.

``I believe that the people of Zimbabwe should be given a chance for a free and fair election and once they have voted, the voice of the people must be respected.''

BRITAIN SAYS MUGABE OBSTRUCTING

Britain said the treason charges were a further sign that Mugabe was trying to fix the election in two weeks time.

``Coming just days before the presidential elections it looks like yet another attempt by the Mugabe regime to obstruct the conduct of the election and the ability of the people of Zimbabwe to choose freely and fairly who should lead them,'' Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said.

Zimbabwe's police chief spokesman, Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena, confirmed the charge against Tsvangirai and said the police were still investigating the case.

Tsvangirai and his lawyer, Innocent Changonda, said they doubted the case would go to court before the election. Bvudzijena said he did not know when the opposition leader would appear in court.

Tsvangirai said police had formally accused him and MDC colleagues Welshman Ncube, Renson Gasela and Rupert Johnson of planning to assassinate Mugabe.

``Of course I denied that completely. I said this whole thing is contrived to damage me politically,'' he said.

He was questioned as part of a police inquiry opened after an Australian television channel broadcast video footage on February 13 which purported to show Tsvangirai discussing the possibility of ``eliminating'' Mugabe at a meeting in Montreal, Canada, last December.

OBSERVERS SEEK POLICE PROTECTION

Monday, the leader of a South African observer mission, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, said she had asked for police protection for her team after an assault Sunday.

Hundreds of Mugabe's followers ambushed people leaving a campaign rally Sunday addressed by Tsvangirai in Chinhoyi, Mugabe's hometown and a ruling ZANU-PF party stronghold. They later stoned vehicles, hitting a minibus carrying observers.

``I'm very anxious. It is my responsibility to ensure all the time the safety of the delegation. I've been liaising with police in Harare and Chinhoyi to ensure that the lives of the observers are safe,'' Mapisa-Nqakula told reporters in Harare.

She declined to blame Mugabe's supporters for the incident.

European Union observers pulled out last week after the government refused to accredit their Swedish team leader.

The government-controlled Herald newspaper stepped up attacks on Britain Monday, accusing the former colonial power of plotting to overthrow Mugabe if he wins the election. The British high commission (embassy) dismissed the story as nonsense.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- Zimbabwe's highest court struck down a series of highly restrictive electoral laws on Wednesday, dealing the government a blow less than two weeks before presidential elections.

The Supreme Court's decision cancels the General Laws Amendment Act, which gave state election officers sweeping powers and restricted vote monitoring, identity requirements for voters, campaigning and voter education, said Adrian de Bourbon, the lawyer representing the opposition Movement for Democratic Change which had challenged the Act.

In a second setback for the government of President Robert Mugabe, a judge in the High Court, the country's second-highest court, delayed the implementation of new citizenship rules that had disqualified tens of thousands of voters, including longtime laborers from neighboring countries and many among the country's white minority.

Opposition activists had complained that the laws disenfranchised some of their supporters and made it easier for vote rigging in the March 9-10 elections.

The decisions in both the Supreme Court and the High Court were seen as loss for the 78-year-old Mugabe, who is fighting for his political survival after 22 years in office. He has been criticized widely for trying to squash the opposition through legal means and government sanctioned violence.

Wednesday's ruling in the High Court restores voting rights back to tens of thousands of whites and poor black farm and mine workers whose migrant families originated abroad or in neighboring countries.

The citizenship rules had disqualified longtime residents who also had claims to foreign citizenship from voting.

High Court Judge Ishmael Adam gave permanent residents entitled to another nationality until August to renounce it, giving them time to vote in the upcoming election.

As part of the ruling, the half million Zimbabweans living abroad can also legally vote by absentee ballot. However, the ruling is mostly symbolic since it is now too late for voters abroad -- many of whom are thought to be critical of the government -- to register.

No reaction was immediately available from the government.

Earlier Wednesday, the opposition said it was bearing the brunt of government sponsored harassment ahead of the vote.

Police prevented a small policy meeting of opposition leaders Wednesday, hours after an opposition lawmaker's house was stoned outside Harare.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said police accused him under new security laws of holding an illegal meeting with two party officials and the head of an educational charity at a house in a northern Harare suburb.

Under security laws enforced since Jan. 18, police are required to authorize political meetings, usually rallies or public gatherings. ``Anywhere we go, they will say it's illegal,'' Tsvangirai said.

Later, Tsvangirai visited the house of opposition lawmaker Tafadzwa Musekiwa in Chitungwiza township, an opposition stronghold just south of the capital of Harare. Musekiwa's home had been attacked by people who appeared to be ruling party militants.

Musekiwa said he was awoken by ``stones raining down'' and saw a mob of about 100 people running away when the alarm went off. No one was hurt but several windows were smashed.

No arrests were made and the police had no immediate information about the attack.

The most recent wave of unrest followed two leading opposition politicians being charged with treason Tuesday for allegedly planning, alongside Tsvangirai, the assassination of Mugabe. Tsvangirai was charged with treason on Monday, an offense carries a penalty of life imprisonment or the death sentence.

The three deny the charges and claim they were set up by the government.

LONDON, Mar 4, 2002 -- (dpa) President Robert Mugabe has transferred large sums of Zimbabwe's desperately needed hard currency to Malaysia through banks in the Channel Islands in the past three months, suggesting he is planning to flee Zimbabwe, Britain's Sunday Telegraph reported.

At least 10 million pounds (14 million dollars) had passed through the offshore tax haven, most of the cash being moved through financial institutions without their knowing it belongs to Mugabe, the newspaper reported.

The money had ended up in Malaysia, which has strong links to Mugabe's regime, the Telegraph said, quoting financial investigators.

Inquiries on behalf of the British government had uncovered a complex network through which 60 million pounds had left Zimbabwe, 10 million of which had gone through the Channel Islands, the report said.

Britain is under pressure from the United States to end the tax-free status of the Channel Islands, The U.S. believes off-shore financial centers are involved in laundering the funds of drug dealers and terrorists.

The islands have an unusual status, being dependencies of the crown but not strictly part of the United Kingdom. They would not, however, be in a position to defy the British government.

None of the money was held in Mugabe's name but by "front" firms. The Financial Services Commission, based in Jersey, confirmed it was investigating Mugabe's movements of cash on the islands.

Meanwhile Britain's Observer newspaper reported that torture camps where suspected opponents are being murdered and mutilated have been set up in Zimbabwe as Mugabe unleashes a reign of terror ahead of elections this week.

The Sunday newspaper said its investigation had uncovered evidence Mugabe's state-security apparatus had created dozens of camps where civilians were being tortured for suspected disloyalty to the ruling Zanu-PF government.

The Observer said its reporters had entered the country illegally last week - Mugabe has banned many British journalists - and uncovered scores of incidents where ordinary Zimbabweans had been shipped to the camps, beaten and in some cases killed.

"During a 1,000-kilometer trip through Matabeleland, where Mugabe's notorious Fifth Brigade massacred an estimated 20,000 people in the 1980s, we saw villagers displaying horrific wounds after being held at camps by gangs of youths dubbed 'the Taliban' by local people," the newspaper said.

In elections this week, Mugabe faces his stiffest challenge since coming to power in 1980, when the country gained independence from Britain.

HARARE (Reuters) - Robert Mugabe, fresh from overriding his Supreme Court in what critics called his latest move to retain power, heads to east Zimbabwe Wednesday as campaigning for a bitter presidential election nears an end.

Followers of challenger Morgan Tsvangirai said Tuesday Mugabe could only win this weekend's poll by stealing it -- and vowed to fight on through the courts if that happened.

The vote Saturday and Sunday is set to be Zimbabwe's closest and has exposed the deep political and economic crisis gripping the southern African state that Mugabe has led since independence from Britain in 1980.

Mugabe, 78, has vowed to win the poll, accusing his opponents of being stooges of the former colonial power and a vehicle for a return to white rule.

He used presidential powers Tuesday to reinstate election rules which the Supreme Court declared illegal last week and which critics say favor his re-election bid.

The controversial General Laws Amendments Act gives state-appointed election officers powers to bar independent vote monitors, to introduce strict identity requirements for voters and ban private organizations from voter education.

``This is a clear demonstration that Mugabe is determined to hang on to power by all means, but mostly foul,'' said political analyst Masipula Sithole.

Zimbabwe's Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC), whose members are Mugabe appointees, is expected to brief observers and the media Wednesday on just how the vote will be run.

The role of independent observers has turned into a key issue, with some foreign countries complaining of restrictions.

OBSERVERS LEAVE

A 23-strong South Africa non-governmental observer team was refused accreditation Tuesday and told to leave the country.

The European Union last month pulled out its observer team after Harare refused to accredit its leader. The EU and the United States imposed selective sanctions against Mugabe and his inner circle in protest.

The State Department this week blasted the government for recent human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings and security-force involvement in acts of political violence.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said Tuesday the poll was already seriously flawed but urged Zimbabweans to vote.

His pro-democracy Carter Center said it was ``deeply concerned about continued reports of political violence, internal displacement of the population, the activities of armed militias unchecked by the government and police action that have violated basic political rights and freedoms.''

Law and order bills pushed through parliament by the ruling ZANU-PF party had prevented free campaigning, the Center said.

The MDC, which is hoping to turn public anger over a crumbling economy and severe food shortages into victory at the polls, accuses ZANU-PF of using a militia disguised as a youth training service to terrorize the opposition.

Mugabe and his party have denied orchestrating a campaign of intimidation and rejected allegations that it is trying to fix the polls, and blamed pre-election violence on the MDC.

Some 5.6 million Zimbabweans will go to the polls at a time of severe food shortages caused by drought and the state-sanctioned invasions of white-owned farms which have slashed maize output.

The United Nations has warned half a million Zimbabweans face food shortages.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- Two Britons and an American were arrested after being accused of attending an illegal gathering that took place on the eve of Zimbabwe's hotly contested presidential election, diplomats said Sunday.

The American was one of about 100 people arrested Friday night in the eastern border town of Runda and was expected to appear in court Monday, said Bruce Warton, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Harare.

Two Britons were arrested at the same gathering and a lawyer was trying to get access to them, said Sophia Honey, a spokeswoman for the British High Commission. Neither embassy would disclose the names or professions of the detainees, citing privacy concerns.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum said four workers from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change were missing and two lawyers, believed to be foreigners, were arrested in Runda. It did not say what countries the foreigners were from.

In a written statement, the organization said the arrests and the disappearance of the opposition members were part of a government campaign of intimidation leading up the vote, which was held Saturday and Sunday.

The American and British officials declined to comment on whether the arrests were linked to the election, in which President Robert Mugabe sought to extend his 22-year rule but faced a challenge from opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

The campaign and election have been marred by violence that the opposition blames on the ruling party.

An official from the Movement for Democratic Change went to Runda's police station with a court order to release the lawyers but was turned away by a member of a pro-government youth militia who pointed a gun at his head, the Human Rights Forum said.

In January, the government passed security laws that made it illegal to hold public gatherings without a permit -- a move the opposition said was aimed at making it difficult for them to campaign.

HARARE (Reuters) - Robert Mugabe's government defied a court order to keep all polling stations open on Monday to ensure Zimbabwe's presidential election was fair, though it did agree to extend voting in two key opposition strongholds.

With long queues of voters still lining up to cast their ballots on Sunday evening after two days and President Mugabe's challenger saying electoral officials were on a go-slow to thwart him, a High Court judge ordered a third day of voting.

But early on Monday the government said it would extend the election only in the capital Harare and in nearby Chitungwiza settlement, the two places originally cited by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in its plea to the court.

Supporters of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, Mugabe's toughest challenger in 22 years in power, also complained that police were using the court ruling to stop late-night voting on Sunday and beat away thousands still waiting to cast ballots.

Quoting Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, state radio said the polling stations would reopen only in the two areas that had the longest queues late on Sunday.

``Comrade Chinamasa has said it is impossible to comply with the order to extend the vote nationwide because in some areas, polling has already closed and ballot boxes have already been returned,'' the radio said.

It was not clear whether counting would begin on Monday or wait until after the extended vote in the Harare area.

Political analysts believe Tsvangirai commands a majority but say he is unlikely to win after two years of intimidation, legal manipulation and dirty tricks by the ruling ZANU-PF party.

Mugabe, 78, has taken the former Rhodesia from civil war and white minority rule to prosperity in the 1980s and now to penury that threatens the stability of the southern African region.

Britain, the former colonial power, and the United States have warned him a rigged election could destabilize the country.

SOUTH AFRICAN FEARS

Neighboring South Africa, widely criticized for failing to condemn Mugabe's handling of his political and economic crises, fears a meltdown would cause a flood of refugees.

Witnesses said on Sunday that the opposition's court victory might have backfired within hours.

Riot police fanned out across Harare within an hour of the decision, shutting down polling stations that the authorities had promised to keep open all night to process queues of votes. The MDC has done very well in Harare in previous elections.

``The authorities are closing all the polling stations in Harare because of the court decision,'' Norwegian observer Kare Vollan told Reuters at 11 p.m. at Warren Park, a western Harare township where there was a huge voter turnout.

He said at least 1,000 voters had been turned away, adding: ''We have reports of the same closures all over the town.''

Witnesses said riot police shut down another polling station about an hour after the ruling, scattering around 2,500 people who had waited most of the day.

The MDC had sought the court order on Sunday after thousands of voters had waited up to 20 hours to vote on Saturday.

Police clashed at least three times with angry voters who suspected a deliberate bid to undermine the opposition.

OPPOSITION ANGRY

The MDC said in a statement late on Sunday that its court victory was being undone by the government's decision to close polling stations it had promised to keep open all night.

``This evening, the government of Zimbabwe took a deliberate decision to deny hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans the right to vote by closing polling stations...despite its earlier undertaking that polling stations would remain open for as long as there were people still queuing to vote.

``At the time the high court was making the order, police were busy closing polling stations in Harare and Chitungwiza, beating up people queuing to vote and ordering them to go home because 'polling was over','' the MDC statement said.

Election Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede said on state television that a nation extension was unnecessary.

``The whole country has voted, with the exception of about 10 polling stations in Harare. Those are the reports that we have. But we do not close out people who are in the queues, they are allowed to vote,'' he said.

Mudede said, however, that by midday on Sunday barely a quarter of the voters registered in Harare had cast their ballots. The 205,000 votes gathered was about half the number that voted in parliamentary elections in June 2000.

The independent Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum reported attacks on opposition supporters on Sunday and on MDC election agents and monitors officially mandated to oversee rural voting.

The forum said at least 58 people, including 11 white farmers, two Americans and two Britons had been arrested for a variety of alleged offences.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- Police closed down voting booths and used clubs and tear gas to disperse prospective voters Monday, as a chaotic, court-ordered, third day of presidential voting ended with allegations of government rigging and anger over confusion at polling stations.

Police also shot into the air at a polling station in the Harare neighborhood of Glen Norah to disperse 600 people waiting to vote Monday night. When told to go home, they began chanting ``Change, change, we want to vote!''

Monday marked a bitter close to voting with allegations of government rigging and anger over confusion at polling stations. Election officials started counting ballots Tuesday, with first results expected Wednesday.

Also during the chaos Monday, four U.S. diplomats were detained for four hours by police, and U.S. officials said they would protest.

Sunday's election was the fiercest fought in Zimbabwe since President Robert Mugabe led the nation to independence in 1980. Mugabe faced a strong challenge from Morgan Tsvangirai, a labor organizer turned opposition candidate from the Movement for Democratic Change. In recent years, Zimbabwe's economy has collapsed and political violence -- blamed mostly on the ruling party -- has become rampant.

Independent election observers have expressed concern over the number of people turned away by polling officials, reportedly because they tried to vote in the wrong districts or did not have proper identification.

Government officials denied any voting irregularities.

On Monday night, a judge rejected an opposition appeal to order a fourth day of voting. The voting had been scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, and was held Monday by court order.

Tsvangirai accused Mugabe and his ruling party of trying to steal the election by driving opposition observers from 43 percent of the rural polling stations, some of the rural counting stations and discouraging voting in Harare.

At another polling station in the capital, the presiding officer, escorted by police, marked a distance 100 yards from the entrance and announced the voting line ended there. Voters refused to budge and began arguing with police and officials.

``Since independence I've never seen such a thing and I wonder why they've done so.'' said F. Ncube, a 50-year-old factory worker.

Even before the Harare polls closed, authorities announced figures that showed voter turnout was high in strongholds of Mugabe, with far fewer voters casting ballots in opposition areas.

However, opposition officials said the reported turnouts in pro-Mugabe areas did not match the reports from their polling agents.

Signaling that the vote may already have gone to Mugabe, the government reported Monday morning that Mashonaland Central, which normally votes strongly for the ruling party, had a 68 percent turnout. In Harare, a 47 percent turnout was reported; in the city of Bulawayo, an overwhelmingly opposition area, 46 percent reportedly cast ballots.

Overall, 2.7 million of the nation's 5.6 million registered voters, or 48 percent, cast ballots by Sunday night, the government said. The opposition said the overall turnout figures were suspect and intended to guarantee Mugabe's re-election.

Monday's opening of voting in Harare was unexplicably delayed until noon, when many in line gave up and went home or to work.

``We are not happy, we are stranded,'' said Never Taraswa, a 37-year-old unemployed man who blamed the government for the long wait to vote in the poor Glen View neighborhood. ``They don't want us to change things.''

The opposition party's secretary-general and third-ranking official, Welshman Ncube, was arrested Monday in the town of Plumtree, said David Coltart an opposition legislator. Police gave no reason for the arrest.

``We will not succumb to this kind of intimidation,'' opposition leader and presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai said. He appealed to Zimbabweans to avoid confrontation with security forces.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the four American diplomats were stopped at a roadblock near the town of Chinhoyi, 75 miles north of Harare. He said they all had valid diplomatic identification papers.

``The United States is going to protest the incident in the strongest terms,'' said Boucher.

A group of white farmers and American and British attorneys also was arrested while observing the vote, opposition officials said.

Boucher stressed that the United States is concerned that ``very large numbers of Zimbabweans may not have an opportunity to vote,'' and urged the government to allow voting ``into the evening as necessary.''

Foreign election observers stopped police from sending voters away from a polling station in Kuwadzana township 45 minutes before polls were supposed to close Monday.

But police did stop balloting in the poor neighborhood at 7 p.m., even though more than 200 people remained in line and government officials had promised to keep polls open until everyone voted.

In Brussels, European Union foreign ministers said Monday they received reports of voting irregularities. Austrian Foreign Minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner said the elections ``are not fair.''

The EU has imposed limited sanctions on Zimbabwe after the government restricted its observer team. EU diplomatic missions remain in Zimbabwe.

Government officials denied any voting irregularities.

``It is common in this part of the world for people who are losing an election to allege fraud,'' said Jonathon Moyo, minister of information.

Moyo also accused the opposition of trying to intimidate voters and called them ``political hooligans.'' He said opposition members chanted slogans outside polling stations and that 218 were arrested trying to vote twice.

``If those thousands of people are not allowed to vote, this is a stillborn election,'' Tsvangirai said Monday. ``The MDC will not be part of an illegitimate process to try to disenfranchise people.''

By RACHEL L. SWARNS

HARARE, Zimbabwe, March 11 — The police arrested an opposition leader today and detained four American diplomats who were observing the presidential election here, which ended after a court denied an opposition request to extend the vote after a third day of sometimes chaotic balloting.

The developments drew strong criticism tonight from a senior State Department official, Walter H. Kansteiner, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs. He described the detention of the diplomats, who were observing the balloting in a rural area and were held by the police for about five hours without being charged, as "totally unacceptable." The police apparently believed that two of the diplomats carried counterfeit accreditation cards.

Mr. Kansteiner also said he could find no reasonable explanation for the reduction of polling stations here in the capital and in the impoverished suburb of Chitungwiza, which are dominated by opposition party supporters. The decision, he said, appeared calculated to sway the outcome of the vote in favor of President Robert Mugabe.

The State Department spokesman, Richard A. Boucher, said today: "This is harassment, in contravention of the international diplomatic norms by the government of Zimbabwe, and we view it as unacceptable. The United States is going to protest the incident in the strongest terms directly to the government of Zimbabwe."

President Mugabe, 78, who has run Zimbabwe for 22 years, is facing the toughest challenge of his career from Morgan Tsvangirai, a former union leader. In recent months, Mr. Mugabe has been accused of condoning violence, political intimidation and carrying out a number of administrative changes to disenfranchise opposition party supporters.

On Sunday, a high court judge ordered the government to extend the voting by one day because only a fraction of the registered voters here in Harare and in Chitungwiza had cast their ballots during the scheduled voting days of March 9 and 10.

Today, the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, went back to court to ask to extend the voting through Tuesday as hundreds of voters waited for hours to cast their votes in slow-moving lines. The request was rejected.

The first judge had already ordered the government to allow the extended voting to begin today at 7 a.m., but the polling stations did not open until about noon. "We were waiting for a directive from our central command station," Florence Gutsaire, the presiding election officer at a local station, said.

Opposition party supporters said the delay was a deliberate attempt to frustrate voters. They also said that Welshman Ncube, the party's secretary general, had been arrested and that many of their polling agents had been abducted or intimidated.

Mr. Ncube was arrested this morning as he was driving with his family to neighboring Botswana, his lawyer said. Mr. Tsvangirai has been charged with plotting to kill Mr. Mugabe and state television reported tonight that the authorities believed Mr. Ncube was also involved in the plot and was trying to flee.

Josephat Tshuma, Mr. Ncube's lawyer, said that Mr. Ncube was heading to Botswana for a private visit. He said Mr. Ncube was still detained tonight, although he had not been formally charged.

Zimbabwe's justice minister, Patrick Chinamasa, dismissed the accusations of beatings and abductions of opposition party polling agents as "total rubbish." He said members of the opposition party, not the governing party, were causing trouble.

Mr. Chinamasa said the police had arrested about 170 members of the Movement for Democratic Change and charged them for trying to vote twice.

"They're trying to disrupt the elections," Mr. Chinamasa said of the opposition party supporters. "It's not everyone who is registered who wants to vote. The M.D.C. has been lying about their popularity here."

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- Zimbabwean officials said President Robert Mugabe had a large lead Wednesday over his challenger in presidential elections observers said were deeply marred by irregularities and ruling-party violence.

As Mugabe's lead over opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai widened, state television reported that Zimbabwean security forces were placed on high alert in case of unrest following the announcement of final results, expected later in the day.

With 69 percent of districts reporting, Mugabe had about 55 percent of the votes, while Tsvangirai had 42 percent, government officials said. State television said total turnout was 55.4 percent.

Meanwhile, human rights groups demanded the government release more than 1,000 opposition polling agents, election observers and voters they charge were arrested during three days of voting. Earlier returns had given Mugabe a slimmer lead of 52 percent to 46 percent.

The bitterly contested election was considered a crucial test for democracy in this southern African nation. Mugabe -- the only leader Zimbabwe has known in 22 years of independence -- faced his first real challenge in Tsvangirai, a former labor organizer.

But independent observers questioned the validity of the vote, saying it was tainted by violence, intimidation, confusion and the disenfranchisement of thousands of voters in the opposition stronghold of Harare.

``The presidential elections failed to meet key, broadly accepted criteria for elections,'' said Kare Vollan, head of the 25-member Norwegian Observer mission.

He said the mission, the largest European delegation, found flaws with every step of the electoral process from voter registration and campaigning to the actual vote.

Several groups said more than 1,000 people had been arrested in connection with the election.

Amnesty International said 1,400 opposition polling agents and independent election observers had been detained but added other people had been arrested for allegedly trying to vote a second time.

``We are deeply concerned for the safety of those arrested in the light of the well-established pattern of 'disappearances,' cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment by Zimbabwean security forces,'' Amnesty said in a statement demanding their release.

Toni Reeler, an official with the Zimbabwean human rights group Amani Trust, said late Tuesday that at least 2,000 people had been detained and that most of them had not been released.

Police said Monday 277 people had been arrested in Harare for voting irregularities. Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said Tuesday he had no updated information.

Foreign election observers complained to police that 75 people were being held in a chicken-wire cage in the Harare township of Glen View, and about 40 others spent the night in police cells and a cage in the northwestern suburb of Mabelreign.

Roy Cook, a human rights worker, said most of those from the comparatively affluent suburb were accused of trying to vote twice and were denied blankets, food and water. A former national rugby captain was among those arrested.

Mugabe led the nation to independence in 1980 and faced little dissent until recent years, when the nation's economy collapsed and political violence -- blamed mostly on the ruling party -- became rampant.

The economy began unravelling after the occupations of white-owned farms began in March 2000. Unemployment is at 60 percent, inflation 112 percent and the ``breadbasket of southern Africa'' has to import food.

Mugabe justified the farm seizures as a justified response to the legacy of inequitable land ownership left by British colonial rule. Whites make up less than one percent of the country's population but own about a third of the nation's commercial farmland.

Ruling party militants also killed scores of opposition supporters -- in a crackdown that began at the time the land seizures started.

The secretary-general of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, Welshman Ncube, appeared in a Harare court Tuesday in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate Mugabe.

Ncube and Tsvangirai have been charged with treason for the plot -- charges they deny and say were concocted by the government to discredit them. Ncube was ordered to pay $9,000 bail and to return to court March 30.

State television announced Tuesday night that turnout was 41.6 percent in Harare, where polling was extended for a court-ordered third day Monday after thousands of voters remained in massive lines. Polls opened hours late Monday and police chased thousands of voters away at 7 p.m., in some cases using tear gas.

The Zimbabwe Election Support Network, a coalition of civic groups, produced a laundry list of problems related to the election, including attacks on voters by police and ruling party militants and the redistribution of polling stations from urban areas to Mugabe's rural strongholds.

``The election is total confusion and chaos ... There is no way these elections can be described as substantially free and fair,'' said Reginald Matchaba-Hove, chairman of the network. ``Even as the vote counting begins, tens of thousands of Zimbabweans have been deliberately and systematically disenfranchised.''

A coalition of church and civic groups known as the Crisis in Zimbabwe Committee said it was considering calling for a general strike to channel the inevitable voter anger over a rigged Mugabe victory into a peaceful protest.

The opposition party said Tuesday afternoon that its observers had been locked out of counting centers in Harare and Bulawayo and that ruling party militants were trying to intimidate opposition observers at two other counting centers.

U.S. officials confirmed that an American tourist and a Belgian woman were being held by police in the farming town of Mvurwi, 60 miles north of Harare for a second night Tuesday. No reasons for their arrests were given.

HARARE (Reuters) - Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said Wednesday President Robert Mugabe's re-election was ''illegitimate'' and did not reflect the true will of the Zimbabwean people.

``The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is firmly of the view that the election results...do not reflect the true will of the people of Zimbabwe and are consequently illegitimate in the eyes of the people,'' Tsvangirai told reporters after Mugabe was officially declared the winner of the three-day election.

``We therefore do not accept them,'' said Tsvangirai, who has accused Mugabe of using intimidation, special laws and dirty tricks to beat off his toughest challenge in 22 years of power.

The election was widely condemned by Western countries and independent observers, who said tens of thousands of people, mostly in the opposition stronghold of Harare, were unable to vote.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush said Wednesday that flaws in Zimbabwe's election will prevent the United States from recognizing the government's claim that incumbent Robert Mugabe was the winner.

Bush told a news conference that the United States is consulting with other countries to decide how ``to deal with this flawed election.''

Earlier, Secretary of State Colin Powell said that the elections were marked by ``numerous and profound irregularities'' that will lead to a deepening of the crisis in Zimbabwe.

Powell's statement was released by his spokesman, Richard Boucher, after the Zimbabwe government announced Mugabe had triumphed in weekend balloting.

``Mr. Mugabe may claim victory but not democratic legitimacy,'' Powell said, pointedly omitting Mugabe's official title of president.

Suggesting that Mugabe lost the election to opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai, Powell said the outcome did not reflect the will of the Zimbabwean people.

He said the abuses did not begin with the weekend balloting. ``The pre-election period was marked by a sustained government-orchestrated campaign of intimidation and violence,'' he said, adding that the subversion of the democratic process has been going on for more than two years.

The policies of Mugabe's government ``have been marked by a blatant disregard for the rule of law, serious human rights abuses, a broad repression of the Zimbabwean electorate, and ultimately the disenfranchisement of thousands of Zimbabwean voters,'' Powell said.

He raised the possibility that the United States may impose sanctions beyond the travel sanctions announced last month by Bush.

Bush suspended U.S. entry privileges for Mugabe, his family or senior members of his government.

He also denied entry to those who received ``significant financial benefit'' from dealings with Zimbabwean officials who carried out Mugabe's policies.

U.S. officials said the administration may freeze assets of Zimbabwean officials involved in the alleged rigging of the democratic process.

Another possibility is the banning of commercial export licenses of defense articles and services.

By EDMUND L. ANDREWS

VIENNA, March 15 — European leaders stepped up their denunciations of the recent Zimbabwe election today, with Germany following the lead of Canada by vowing to cut off aid to the government of President Robert Mugabe.

After three days of voting, during which many people waited in long lines only to see the polls close before they could cast their ballots, Mr. Mugabe claimed to have won re- election with 56 percent of votes cast.

But opposition leaders and many foreign observers say that the government made it difficult for people to vote, particularly in areas where Mr. Mugabe's opponents had an advantage, and that the police and army created an intimidating presence at many polling places.

In Washington, President Bush has said the United States will not recognize the validity of Mr. Mugabe's re- election. The United States has not announced any decision about cutting off aid.

But Germany announced today that it would stop all aid to the Zimbabwe government, and it called on the European Union to follow suit.

"We will not work with the Mugabe government in any form in terms of development cooperation, and we will urge the E.U. to put further pressure and sanctions" on Zimbabwe, Heidemarie Wieczorek- Zeul, Germany's minister in charge of development aid, told Parliament today.

Germany will continue providing aid to private organizations, some of which are helping to combat hunger in parts of the country. Germany has provided about $4.6 million in aid to Zimbabwe in the last two years.

Canada announced the same measure on Thursday, after Prime Minister Jean Chrétien met with President Bush in Washington. Though Mr. Chrétien was reticent at first about the Zimbabwe election, he changed his mind after seeing a preliminary report by observers from the Commonwealth, a 54-nation group of mainly former British colonies, that described a climate of fear surrounding the voting. "It looked pretty bad," Mr. Chrétien remarked.

Despite the protests and the potential loss of aid money, Mr. Mugabe appears set to be inaugurated on Sunday for another six-year term.

The European Union will take up the issue this weekend, when leaders from the 15 members hold a summit meeting in Barcelona, Spain. Though it is unclear whether European leaders will agree on a cut in aid or other sanctions, European diplomats said the leaders were certain to issue a "strong statement" condemning the action.

The leader of Europe's observer delegation, Pierre Schori of Sweden, was expelled from Zimbabwe before the election on the ground that he had violated the terms of his tourist visa. Today Mr. Schori declared that the election had been unfair and distorted.

Goran Persson, Sweden's prime minister, today added his voice to the growing chorus of criticism of Mr. Mugabe. "It is a danger for the development of all of southern Africa that those countries which were liberated do not seem to be able to handle the next phase, which is securing democracy," Mr. Persson said. "It is a dangerous situation, and we are all gravely concerned."

Jack Straw, Britain's foreign secretary, said Mr. Mugabe had indulged in blatant cheating and been caught in the act.

Zimbabwe's African neighbors remain reluctant to criticize the election. The observer group from Commonwealth countries, led by South Africa, Nigeria and Australia, appears to be divided. Deputy President Jacob Zuma of South African went to Harare on Thursday to congratulate Mr. Mugabe and pronounced the election free and fair.

The Commonwealth countries are to meet on Tuesday to discuss the observers' report on Zimbabwe, but the group seems unlikely to enact any concrete measures.

Mugabe Signs Restraint on Press

HARARE, Zimbabwe, March 15 — President Mugabe today signed into law sharp limitations on local and international news organizations operating in Zimbabwe.

The law, which creates a media licensing commission with considerable disciplinary powers, was passed by Parliament earlier this year.

But the timing of the signing was unexpected, coming only two days after Mr. Mugabe was declared the winner of an election that had been widely criticized by Western governments and some international organizations.

HARARE (Reuters) - A white farmer was shot dead near his homestead early Monday, apparently while trying to escape an attack by settlers and war veterans, a farm community spokeswoman said.

It was the first attack on a white farmer since Robert Mugabe was reelected last week in presidential election marred by violence and charges of vote rigging.

Commercial Farmers' Union spokeswoman Jenni Williams told Reuters Terry Ford of the farm Gowrie, about 30 miles southwest of Harare, was found shot through the head.

``There is evidence of a bullet exit wound from the head,'' she said.

Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena confirmed that Ford had been murdered, but said he had no further details. ``Our men are on the ground right now investigating,'' he said.

Ford was the 10th white farmer to be killed since landless blacks began with government sanction to seize white-owned farms two years ago.

Williams said Ford was alone on his farm and called for help early Monday, saying he was being threatened by farm settlers and veterans of the former Rhodesia's 1970s liberation war.

ALONE AT HOME

``Mr Ford contacted police and neighbors, but he did not get much help because some of his neighbors have moved out of the area. He was alone in his home and he said he would remain vigilant,'' Williams said.

``At 6 a.m. (0400 GMT) this morning his domestic worker reported for duty and discovered his body lying next to a tree outside the house. There is evidence that Mr. Ford was trying to drive out of the farm,'' she added.

Williams said there was no immediate word on what led to the killing.

The government accuses the Commercial Farmers Union, which mainly represents whites, of using the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) as a front for its effort to maintain white economic dominance.

About 20,000 commercial farms have been abandoned by white owners or are occupied by black settlers.

Mugabe said at his inauguration Sunday he had delivered ``a stunning blow'' to Britain and said he would accelerate the seizure of white-owned farms for redistribution to landless blacks.

By ALAN COWELL

ONDON, March 19 — Flanked by the presidents of South Africa and Nigeria, Prime Minister John Howard of Australia today announced a yearlong suspension of Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth, a group of 54 nations, mostly former British colonies. The unusual step was meant to punish President Robert Mugabe for his stewardship of elections this month that were widely criticized outside Africa as rigged.

The two African leaders, Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, maintained a cryptic silence while Mr. Howard spoke, endorsing the decision by their presence at a news conference but avoiding embroilment in a debate over whether they now view Mr. Mugabe's presidency as illegitimate.

While less than an expulsion, the move still deepened the diplomatic isolation of Zimbabwe, which has already been battered by political violence, hunger, economic decline and the threat of labor unrest. It means Zimbabwean officials will be barred from meetings held by the Commonwealth, an organization that carries some cachet as an important club bridging the north-south divide.

The suspension was decided by the three men, who met as a committee charged with deciding the Commomwealth's response. The decision, made at the headquarters in Marlborough House, has left two of the men facing an acute dilemma.

Mr. Mbeki and Mr. Obasanjo — both of whose countries have under past undemocratic regimes been excluded from the Commonwealth — are torn between solidarity with a fellow African leader who was a crusader against colonialism, and their commitment to democratic standards as part of African economic regeneration. Mr. Howard was chairman of the three-nation committee.

The move avoids an open rift between its majority members in Africa and Asia, some of which have tended to side with Mr. Mugabe, and rich, white-ruled countries like Britain, Canada and Australia, which have criticized him. Yet it adds one more voice to those labeling Mr. Mugabe a pariah and increasing pressure on him to seek reconciliation, possibly through new elections.

The opprobrium spread further today when Switzerland became the latest country to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe, "in view of the manipulation of the presidential elections and ongoing human rights violations," the Swiss government said.

Under other restrictions, Mr. Mugabe and Zimbabwe's most senior leaders are already barred from travel to the United States and the European Union.

"The committee has decided to suspend Zimbabwe from the councils of the Commonwealth for a period of one year with immediate effect," Mr. Howard said, reading the statement alone, apparently as a face-saving gesture to Mr. Mbeki, whose own election observers in Zimbabwe found the vote "legitimate."

The response to Mr. Mugabe's behavior was seen by many outsiders as a token of South Africa's and Nigeria's own commitment to democracy as a way of fostering economic renewal. At a meeting in Monterrey, Mexico, for instance, the financier George Soros said today that the Zimbabwe elections "have cast doubt on the ability of the African states to create suitable conditions for private investment."

If the Commonwealth had not suspended Zimbabwe — an act Mr. Howard saw as "at the severe end" of available punishments — such criticism would only have sharpened. Yet many African politicians, including Morgan Tsvangirai, the Zimbabwe opposition leader defeated in the election, had expressed doubt that the Commonwealth would take any action at all.

The suspension was accompanied by suggestions for easing Zimbabwe's drastic food shortages and economic decline. The Commonwealth also supported moves to resolve the country's violent crisis over the seizure of white farmers' land, backing Mr. Mugabe in his commitment to redistribute territory among landless black Zimbabweans. This was apparently intended to keep the door open to dialogue.

"Land is at the core of the crisis in Zimbabwe," Mr. Howard said in his statement.

According to the statement, the leaders of South Africa and Nigeria will continue to talk to Mr. Mugabe about ways to lift the suspension.

For all its critics say it is ineffective, the Commonwealth has nonetheless sought to project itself as an arbiter of democratic legitimacy among often delinquent members.

In the 60's, white-ruled South Africa quit the Commonwealth rather than be suspended over apartheid; Nigeria was suspended in the 1990's during military rule because of the execution of the human rights activist Ken Saro Wiwa. Fiji has been suspended twice, once for 10 years. Pakistan has been suspended since the military coup two years ago that brought Gen. Pervez Musharraf to power.

By RACHEL L. SWARNS

HARARE, Zimbabwe, March 20 — Despite international pleas for political reconciliation, the government of President Robert Mugabe summoned the opposition leader to police headquarters today and ordered him to surrender his passport and report weekly to the authorities until he is tried on charges of treason.

The move was widely viewed as Mr. Mugabe's response to Zimbabwe's suspension from the Commonwealth on Tuesday. The leaders of Australia, Nigeria and South Africa, backed by the 54-nation group, said they had decided to suspend Zimbabwe because the presidential election this month was marred by violence, allegations of rigging and other irregularities.

Zimbabwe's foreign minister denied the police were retaliating against the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, who had lobbied for the suspension.

But there is no doubt that this beleaguered country is increasingly isolated.

This week Switzerland imposed travel and financial sanctions against Mr. Mugabe and his aides. Australia urged its citizens to avoid traveling to Zimbabwe, which has watched its tourism industry wither. There are also hints that Mr. Mugabe's support among Africans may be fraying.

Although Western leaders have condemned Zimbabwe's election as illegitimate, many Africans — including election observers from South Africa and Nigeria — have until now praised Mr. Mugabe's victory in the poll, on March 9-11.

African leaders had rejected previous calls for the Commonwealth to suspend Zimbabwe, partly because they admire Mr. Mugabe, who led the struggle against white rule here. They also believe the West is less concerned about democracy than about protecting the white minority in Zimbabwe, which has opposed the government's sometimes violent efforts to return to the black majority land stolen by British settlers.

Yet African leaders like Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria have been pressed to oppose Mr. Mugabe by Western officials, who have prodded them to act more strongly against Zimbabwe.

Today, in an abrupt reversal, South Africa's governing party and its cabinet welcomed Zimbabwe's suspension and the Commonwealth's promise to help the country cope with widening food shortages and economic instability.

The cabinet of Mr. Mbeki, who joined Mr. Obasanjo and Prime Minister John Howard of Australia in announcing the suspension on Tuesday in London, described the action as "an important symbolic gesture both to express the displeasure of the organization with the weaknesses which were manifest in the electoral process, and to serve as an incentive for the role-players in Zimbabwe to unite and work together to rebuild their country."

Political analysts warned today that Mr. Mugabe risked losing African allies if he continued to harass the opposition.

"If he continues with a hard-line attitude, it's going to make life very difficult for him and he's going to lose whatever allies he has," said Eddy Maloka, head of the Africa Institute, a research organization in Johannesburg.

But reconciliation was not in the air today.

The police summoned Mr. Tsvangirai, who was charged last month with trying to assassinate Mr. Mugabe, and ordered him to post a hefty bail.

"So much for reconciliation," he said as he entered the police station.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The State Department blasted Zimbabwe Wednesday for charging an opposition leader with treason following the reelection of President Robert Mugabe, accused by Washington of stealing victory in the poll.

``This is ... the latest example of a kind of retaliation against opposition and supporters that we're seeing under way in the aftermath of the election,'' department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters.

Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change who had posed a serious threat to Mugabe in last week's presidential election, appeared in court on Wednesday accused of treason.

Boucher said the United States was unaware of ``any convincing evidence'' for the charge.

``Since March 13, at least five opposition supporters have been killed,'' Boucher said. ``We condemn this campaign of violence and intimidation being carried out by the government of Zimbabwe and its supporters in the post-election period.''

The United States last month imposed a ban on travel to the United States by Mugabe and 19 of his top officials to protest the Zimbabwean government's handling of the election campaign.

Bush Boucher said further sanctions against Zimbabwe were being reviewed, including broader travel restrictions, the blocking of assets and a formal arms ban.

Boucher said the impact of the elections on the region may be discussed at the U.N. development conference in Monterrey, Mexico, which President Bush is to attend this week.

``I think everybody in the region realizes that this kind of violence and intimidation in Zimbabwe is causing hardship to the people there, and that then spreads to neighbors as well, that the neighbors have concerns, economically and socially, about the flow of refugees, for example,'' Boucher said.

``So it may come up in that context as part of another one of the difficulties being caused not only for the development of Zimbabwe, but for the development of others in the region.''

HARARE, Zimbabwe, March 27 (Agence France-Presse) — Peta Thornycroft, a correspondent for The Daily Telegraph of London was arrested in Zimbabwe yesterday on charges of publishing false information and inciting public violence, her family and the newspaper said.

The newspaper's foreign editor, Alec Russell, said in a statement released in London that the charges against her were "without any foundation and are the latest cynical act by a regime intent on crushing anyone that dares to question them."

She was arrested while having tea in Chimanimani, 300 miles from Harare, after traveling there to investigate reports of widespread political violence against the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, the paper said.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- A jailed reporter for a British newspaper was told Friday that she will be prosecuted under a new media law prohibiting journalists from working without state accreditation, her lawyer said.

Peta Thornycroft, a Zimbabwean who is a correspondent for The Daily Telegraph, would be the first journalist prosecuted under the law passed in February. She could face two years in prison.

Thornycroft was denied accreditation earlier this year, before the law was passed.

She was arrested Wednesday in Chimanimani, 300 miles southeast of Harare, where she planned to investigate reports of violence by ruling party militants against the political opposition, according to her lawyer, Tapiwanashe Kujinga.

The opposition, election monitors and several foreign governments have disputed President Robert Mugabe's re-election over opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in the March 9-11 ballot, condemning the vote as unfair. Mugabe has criticized the independent press, calling it hostile.

Police originally indicated Thornycroft would be charged under sweeping new security laws that prohibit reporting falsely on political violence and inciting public violence, Kujinga said. The charges are punishable by up to five years in prison.

But Kujinga said police told him those charges had been shelved.

Under the Public Order and Security Act, passed in January, any statements deemed critical of Mugabe are considered a criminal offense and the authorities have sweeping powers of detention.

``The police are certainly under some pressure from the top to act, to charge her with something, and therefore they just cobbled together this offense,'' said Kujinga.

Thornycroft was moved Thursday from Chimanimani to a jail cell in the eastern border city of Mutare.

She has denied doing anything illegal and described the allegations against her as ``preposterous.''

The Daily Telegraph's Foreign Editor Alec Russell said in a statement Thursday that Thornycroft's arrest was ``merely the latest act of repression by Robert Mugabe's government against journalists.''

Meanwhile, the opposition said members of the ruling party militia raided homes Friday in Sizinda, a suburb of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second largest city.

Trudy Ndebele, a spokeswoman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, said police shot tear gas and sealed off the area after residents threw stones at them. There was no comment from authorities.