HARARE (Sapa-AP) - A top aide to Zimbabwe's opposition presidential candidate was arrested as he returned to his homeland Thursday, his party said, robbing the group of one of its most impassioned spokesman just weeks before the election.
Tendai Biti, secretary-general of the Movement for Democratic Change, had predicted his arrest as he prepared earlier Thursday to return to Zimbabwe from South Africa.
"I just got a call now that he has been arrested," party spokesman Nqobizitha Mlilo said from South Africa soon after Biti landed in Harare. Mlilo said he did not immediately have details.
Reporters awaiting Biti saw security officers waiting at the Harare airport but did not see Biti's arrest or see him enter the arrivals lounge.
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena did not respond to a phone call seeking comment. Zimbabwean officials have said they wanted to question Biti about the possibility he broke laws by announcing results from the first round of elections on March 29. Under law, only the state electoral commission can release results.
Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC's candidate in the June 27 presidential runoff against longtime President Robert Mugabe, had himself only returned to Zimbabwe on May 24. He, Biti and other opposition leaders left Zimbabwe soon after the March 29 first round, amid concerns about their security, to lobby support among southern African regional leaders.
Tsvangirai came in first among a field of four March 29. His campaign has been beset by violence blamed on Mugabe's forces.
Since returning, Tsvangirai has been briefly detained by police twice while trying to campaign, and police have stopped several opposition attempts to hold rallies. The state-controlled media has all but ignored him in a country where few have access to the Internet or satellite television.
The opposition, foreign diplomats in Zimbabwe, and Zimbabwean and international human rights groups accuse Mugabe of unleashing violence against Tsvangirai's supporters to ensure Mugabe wins the runoff.
Zimbabwean government and party spokesmen repeatedly have denied such allegations.
Returning under threat of arrest was "a stupid decision," Biti had said in Johannesburg, adding that he believed he must return to continue the battle for change. He spoke firmly, but trembled and sounded uncharacteristically discouraged.
He said he had been informed that he would be arrested but that it was not clear on what charges.
"The only crime I have committed is fighting for democracy," he said in Johannesburg, then hugged an aide and disappeared through the boarding gate.
His party released a statement later saying Biti had "received direct threats of arrest from the Mugabe regime."
Biti said efforts to negotiate a unity government had collapsed.
"That's actually sad," he said, saying talks should be taking place instead of a runoff he predicted would only lead to more violence.
Biti said his party was insisting its leader be president of any coalition government, and that Mugabe had no place in it. Mugabe's party has insisted the longtime leader remain president.
Biti said regional leaders had failed to find a solution for Zimbabwe, and he feared the United Nations, which was sending a high-ranking envoy to Zimbabwe, would do no better.
"I think Zimbabweans are on their own - and the sooner we realize it, the better."
On Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's office said Ban was sending Haile Menkerios, a Harvard-educated diplomat and former Eritrean ambassador, to Zimbabwe fromJune 16-20 "for discussions on the political situation and the upcoming elections.
At the U.N. food summit in Rome last week, Ban met with Mugabe and won permission to send Menkerios, the U.N. assistant secretary-general for political affairs who is responsible for African issues.
Ban spoke to Mugabe about concerns about violence in Zimbabwe and the need to deploy neutral international observers, Marie Okabe, a U.N. deputy spokeswoman for Ban, has told The Associated Press.
