JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Zimbabwean authorities on Thursday detained opposition presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai for the third time in two weeks and said a top official from his party would be charged with treason.
Tsvangirai was released after two hours of detention. But Tendai Biti, secretary-general of his Movement for Democratic Change, or MDC, faces charges related to his alleged publication of a document around the time of the March 29 elections discussing a transition of power from the ruling ZANU-PF party to the opposition, according to police.
The MDC claims Tsvangirai won that balloting and should have become president. However, the government’s election commission ruled that no one had won outright and ordered a second round of voting for June 27 between the opposition leader and longtime President Robert Mugabe.
Biti had been under pressure from police since holding a news conference March 30 announcing that his party’s figures showed it had won the presidency. He left Zimbabwe two weeks later but returned Thursday and was arrested at the airport in Harare, the capital.
Tsvangirai was detained with other opposition officials at a roadblock near the town of Kwekwe and taken to the police station.
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said Biti would be charged with treason, which could carry the death penalty.
The Bush administration says Zimbabwe’s government is stooping to new lows to try to keep its grip on power. It condemned police for detaining Tsvangirai and Biti and accused authorities of “unconscionable behavior” by stealing American food aid intended for hungry schoolchildren and giving it to government supporters.
“We believe the time has come for the United Nations Security Council to take up immediately the issue to prevent further deterioration of the region’s humanitarian and security situation,” White House press secretary Dana Perino said in a statement issued in Rome where President Bush is traveling.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
