NELSON Chamisa . . . MDC spokesman

HARARE – Heavily armed police raided the headquarters of Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, where hundreds of victims of political violence have sought temporary shelter, party spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.

He said police arrested scores of party members including some critically injured and took them away to an unknown destination.

"The police arrested everyone who had remained in the building, including seriously injured political violence victims who could not run away, and drove them away in a bus. They looted MDC office furniture and computers containing party information," said Chamisa.

There was no immediate explanation from the police about why they raided the opposition offices. However, the police have in the past raided the MDC’s Harvest House headquarters claiming they were looking for people who have committed political violence and were hiding in the opposition offices.

The raid comes a day after MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out of next Friday’s presidential run-off election saying widespread violence against his supporters made a free and fair vote impossible.

Tsvangirai said 86 members of the MDC had been killed and 200 000 others displaced in the violence and appealed to the Southern African Development Community, African Union and the United Nations to intervene to restore law and order in Zimbabwe.

The opposition chief however told South African radio on Monday that he was ready to negotiate with Mugabe's ruling ZANU PF but only if political violence stopped.

"We are prepared to negotiate with ZANU-PF but of course it is important that certain principles are accepted before the negotiations take place. One of the preconditions is that this violence against the people must be stopped," he said.

Tsvangirai, who defeated Mugabe in the first round election in March and narrowly failed to take more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid the run-off poll, remained favourite to win the Friday ballot despite political violence against his supporters.

Violence and intimidation of supporters of Tsvangirai’s supporters erupted soon after the March polls and has worsened as the run-off date approached, with the opposition accusing the ruling party of carrying out a systematic campaign to force people not to support the opposition in the crucial run-off election.

Mugabe – who has repeatedly vowed never to hand power to the opposition that he says is a puppet of Britain and the West – denies authorising violence and instead accuses the MDC of carrying out violence in a bid to tarnish his name

The AU Commission in a statement on Monday expressed concern at the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe and said it begun consultations with AU chairman Jakaya Kikwete, the president of Tanzania, with SADC and Mbeki to see what could be done.

"This development and the increasing acts of violence in the run-up to the second round of the presidential election, are a matter of grave concern to the Commission of the AU," Commission boss Jean Ping said in the statement.

Angola, which chairs SADC’s organ on politics and defence, said regional foreign ministers were meeting in Luanda to discuss the Zimbabwe crisis and might issue a statement later today.

SADC chairman and President of Zambia Levy Mwanawasa, who has been critical of Mugabe, called for the run-off election to be called off "to avert a catastrophe in this region."

Western powers, led by Zimbabwe’s former colonial power Britain, have been more strident in their criticism, with British Foreign Office Minister Lord Malloch-Brown warning Mugabe’s government of new sanctions if it did not bow to international demands to allow a free and fair election.

Malloch-Brown said fresh action against the Harare administration could be taken through the United Nations Security Council, the African Union and the European Union.

"I believe there is a whole range of things that can be done which can bring this regime to heel in the sense of requiring it to bend to the will of the international community and allow political change," he told BBC Radio. – ZimOnline