Mugabe arrests the opposition

CNN:

Police in Zimbabwe arrested more opposition lawmakers Wednesday as President Robert Mugabe announced he would include opposition members in his new Cabinet.

Police said they arrested five members of parliament from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) since Monday. Police said the arrests were not politically motivated and were in connection with violence that rocked Zimbabwe in the run-up to the June 27 presidential run-off.

"These (parliament members) have been on the police wanted list which we made public," some time ago, said police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena. "We have been looking for them for a long time since the offenses were committed."

He said some "had fled the country to Mozambique, South Africa, Botswana and so forth."

The Movement for Democratic Change, however, said police made the arrests to reduce the numbers of opposition lawmakers in parliament.

"The arrests are harassment and an attempt to undermine our parliamentary majority," said Luke Tamborinyoka, the opposition party's information director. "We expected that retribution after having shown Mugabe that he is not welcome in parliament."

On Tuesday, members of the Movement for Democratic Change heckled and jeered Mugabe during his speech to open the first parliamentary session since the country's disputed elections. At times, they drowned out his words, in a sign that the political divide in Zimbabwe is widening. Watch more about Mugabe's disrupted speech »

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The Mugabe regime has no credibility when it comes to arresting opposition law makers. Most of the violence in Zimbabwe has been sponsored by Mugabe and his supporters. He is in some ways an interesting despot. He uses the power of the state to deny his opponents rights and to facilitate the facade of the rule of law in a very lawless regime.