Just over two days before Zimbabwe's closely fought presidential election, Mr Robert Mugabe warned he would pursue his challenger once the voting was over.
Opposition leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai has been accused of treason over a secretly recorded video purporting to show him discussing Mr Mugabe's assassination with Canadian consultants who were actually working for the Zimbabwean president.
Mr Mugabe told a rally in eastern Zimbabwe yesterday that Mr Tsvangirai would have to answer for the alleged murder plot after the elections.
"No murderer will go unpunished. No one we know to have planned such deeds will escape," said Mr Mugabe. "We'll see this issue to its conclusion once this [election] is out of the way," he said.
It was reported today Mr Mugabe's government had put the army on high alert, recalled soldiers from leave and ordered those who live outside military barracks to stay home, ready to deal with possible trouble after the elections at the weekend.
The weekly Financial Gazettesaid the government had withdrawn some troops from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to beef up security. The paper also repeated remarks made by one of Mr Mugabe's senior officials early this week that the ruling ZANU-PF party would support a military coup if Mr Mugabe lost power.