Following on from yesterdays decision by Morgan Tsvangirai to pull out of the presidential election runoff, he has today taken up refuge at the Dutch embassy in Harare due to fears for his safety. “Tsvangirai has indeed asked through the MDC, his party, if the Netherlands would be able to provide him with security in the coming days,” Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said. As expected, many have wondered why Tsvangirai has done this; is it genuinely a fear about his safety or is it an attention seeking stunt for the international community?
Zimbabwe’s police chief has already come out saying he sees no reason for Tsvangirai to seek refuge at the Dutch embassy. “It is an exhibitionist antic, (a) move intended to provoke international anger,” police chief Augustine Chihuri said. “We at the same time ask the Dutch embassy, if indeed he is there, to tell him to go home and enjoy your sleep and nothing will happen to him,” Chihuri went on to say. If Tsvangirai wanted to get the international communities attention, he has certainly done that.
News stations across the world are focusing on Zimbabwe. The newspapers have Zimbabwe on the front page and the Internet is at a buzz with thousands of websites featuring Zimbabwe. Any small thing that happens in Zimbabwe now, you can be sure the whole world will know about it in minutes.
If Tsvangirai was not safe and someone wanted to ‘get rid’ of him, they would have done it already. It is a bit too late now for someone to try ‘take out’ Tsvangirai but in this world of politics one can never know. Just how safe is he at the Dutch embassy is another question. What kind of security do they have at this embassy that could potentially protect Tsvangirai? I am sure many of you may be wondering why Tsvangirai does not just leave the country if he is concerned about his safety? It is understood that, with all the traveling Tsvangirai has been over the last couple of months, his passport is now full and has run out of pages. Now to get a new passport for him is proving rather difficult as the government are in charge of issuing new passports and they may delaying issuing Tsvangirai a new passport.
On a lighter note, I wonder what the mood is like at the Dutch embassy following their football teams defeat to Russia in the quarter finals of Euro 2008? Tsvangirai shouldn’t worry if he is not currently being warmly received. They (The Dutch) will get over it soon.
