More Journalists Detained in Zimbabwe

The editor of a Zimbabwean independent weekly newspaper has been arrested for publishing an opinion piece written by an opposition leader.

Davison Maruziva, editor of the Sunday paper The Standard, is being held over an article written by Arthur Mutambara, the leader of a splinter faction of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

In the article, which was published on 20 April, Mr Mutambara delivered a withering critique of Robert Mugabe’s rule of Zimbabwe, accusing the veteran president of running down the economy and his security forces of abuses.

A Reuters photographer has also been detained in Zimbabwe for allegedly using a satellite phone to file pictures while covering the aftermath of recent elections, Reuters said today.

Howard Burditt, a Zimbabwean national, has been in police custody since Monday.

Mr Burditt has not been charged.

A number of local and foreign journalists have been detained in Zimbabwe since the country held elections on 29 March, including a New York Times correspondent who was later released.

Meanwhile, pressure is mounting on Zimbabwe to admit foreign observers to oversee a presidential election run-off amid fresh claims that pro-government militias are instilling terror in the countryside.

As the opposition alleged 30 supporters had now been killed and a union chief said 40,000 farmworkers and their dependents made homeless, authorities played down the levels of violence.

Six days since results from an inconclusive 29 March presidential poll were announced, there was still no word on when a second round would take place nor whether the opposition Movement for Democratic Change will participate.

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