Zimbabwe suspends aid groups and detains diplomats

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe indefinitely suspended all workby aid groups on Thursday and police held a group of U.S. andBritish diplomats for several hours after they visited victimsof political violence ahead of a presidential vote.

The United States blamed the seven diplomats' detentionfirmly on President Robert Mugabe's government, whichWashington accuses of trying to intimidate opposition leaderMorgan Tsvangirai's supporters ahead of the June 27 run-offelection.

"This is outrageous behaviour in the treatment ofdiplomats," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.

Aid work was suspended nearly a week after Mugabe'sgovernment banned some aid groups from distributing food,accusing them of campaigning for the opposition Movement forDemocratic Change (MDC) in elections held on March 29.

U.S. ambassador James McGee said police stopped thediplomats' vehicles at a roadblock and slashed their tyres.Mugabe supporters threatened to set the vehicles ablaze unlessthe diplomats went with police to a nearby station, he said.

"It's an effort to intimidate us so that we won't go out tothe rural areas and then the government can continue to beatthe citizens and the supporters of the MDC," Jendayi Frazer,the top U.S. diplomat for Africa, said in Cape Town.

The diplomats, also accused by the government ofdistributing campaign literature for Tsvangirai, were releasedafter several hours.

Authorities accused aid agencies of irregularities.

"A number of NGOs involved in humanitarian operations arebreaching the terms and conditions of their registration ...

"I hereby instruct all PVOs (Private VoluntaryOrganisations)/NGOs to suspend all field operations untilfurther notice," said Nicholas Goche, Minister of PublicService, Labour and Social Welfare.

Goche refused to comment when contacted by Reuters.

SECURITY COUNCIL CONCERN

Zimbabwe's Deputy Information Minister Bright Matongaaccused the U.S. and British diplomats of distributing campaignmaterial for Tsvangirai's MDC and said they refused todisembark at a roadblock when ordered by police.

"The police simply wanted to get to the bottom of theissue. No force or violence was used," Matonga said.

The U.S. embassy said the attack on the diplomatic convoytook place in Bindura, 80 km (50 miles) north of Harare.

Washington had protested to Zimbabwe over the arrest of thefive U.S. and two British diplomats, Rice said.

At the United Nations, Jeffrey DeLaurentis, politicalcounsellor at the U.S. mission, said the Security Councildiscussed the issue and "expressed concern" over the incident.

"I certainly hope that this time the Security Council doesnot consider the mistreatment of diplomats to be an internalmatter for Zimbabwe," Rice said.

Britain's Foreign Office summoned Zimbabwe's ambassador.

"This gives us a window into the lives of ordinaryZimbabweans because this sort of intimidation is something thatis suffered daily, especially by those who are working inopposition groups," Foreign Secretary David Miliband said.

Former colonial power Britain, human rights groups andZimbabwe's opposition accuse Mugabe of a campaign of violenceto try to keep his 28-year hold on power. Tsvangirai says 65people have been killed.

Mugabe blames his opponents for the violence and sanctionsimposed by Western countries for the collapse of the onceprosperous economy. The opposition says he ruined Zimbabwe.

In an indicator of Zimbabwe's rapid economic decline, itsdollar currency plunged to a new low of between 995 million and1.45 billion to the dollar on Thursday.

Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe in the March 29 vote but failedto win enough votes to avoid a second round. He was detainedfor nine hours on Wednesday but continued his campaign onThursday.

Simba Makoni, the ruling party defector who came third inthe first round called for the run-off to be scrapped toprevent further bloodshed. Makoni won more than 8 percent andthose who voted for him could be crucial in deciding thecontest.

In an unusually harsh attack by an African leader, KenyanPrime Minister Raila Odinga branded Mugabe a dictator and saidin Cape Town that Zimbabwe's run-off campaign was anembarrassment to the continent's efforts to promote democracy.

It is rare for African leaders to publicly attack Mugabe,who is still seen as a hero by millions on the continent forfighting to end British rule in Zimbabwe in 1980 and forsupporting other anti-colonial struggles.

(Additional reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe in Harare,Wendell Roelf in Cape Town; Luke Baker in London and Paul Simaoin Johannesburg; Writing by Peter Millership)