Wiping out the opposition

Harare, Zimbabwe

The government of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has begun sending hit squads to beat up democratic activists, reformists charge. Morgan Tsvangirai, an opposition leader who suffered a cracked skull in police custody last week, said the government is trying to wipe out his Movement for Democratic Change. Mugabe denied the accusation. But his foreign minister summoned Western diplomats to a meeting and warned that any diplomat who supported the opposition risked expulsion from the country. U.S. Ambassador Christopher W. Dell walked out of the meeting in protest.