May 22, 2008

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Tsvangirai to return despite death plot fears

WHO: Morgan Tsvangirai
WHAT: Zimbabwe's opposition leader will return home this weekend despite fears of a possible assassination attempt, he said Thursday.
WHERE: JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
WHEN: May 22, 2008
WHY: "I am going home .... Saturday," Morgan Tsvangirai told a crowd of Zimbabweans seeking protection at a Johannesburg police station after a wave of anti-foreigner attacks in South Africa.
Tsvangirai faces a runoff election against President Robert Mugabe June 27. He won the first round of voting at the end of March but not by an absolute majority. He has spent most of the time since then outside the country. He planned to return to Zimbabwe last Saturday but delayed the trip after his Movement for Democratic Change party said there was a plot to assassinate him.
HOW: Tsvangirai's spokesman George Sibotshiwe said Thursday that the threat had not necessarily declined, but "at a certain point you have to take the risk." Independent human rights groups say opposition supporters have been targeted in a campaign of violence aimed at ensuring that 84-year-old Mugabe wins the presidential runoff. The economic and political crisis in Zimbabwe has led to an exodus from the country, with more than 3 million of its people believed to be in neighboring South Africa. Resentment that foreigners are competing for scarce jobs and houses has led to a wave of anti-foreigner attacks in South Africa in the past 10 days. Zimbabweans have born the brunt.