Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai today declared he was preparing to return to take on Robert Mugabe in the presidential election re-run next month.
Speaking in Belfast, where he was addressing the 55th Congress of the Liberal International umbrella group meeting, he said: “I must return to Zimbabwe to be with our people and to lift them out of the darkness.”
He was leaving “almost immediately” officials confirmed.
Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF party has announced the presidential run-off between Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai will be held by July 31st, despite opposition demands that it is held next week. Mr Mugabe has barred international observers.
It will be the first time Mr Tsvangirai has set foot in the country since the first round of the election in March - that he claims to have won but since which President Mugabe has clung to power amid mounting violence.
Speaking at a news conference Mr Tsvangirai said: “On the 29th of March the people of Zimbabwe voted. Mugabe lost that 1st round, 57 per cent of the people who cast their vote did not vote for him.
“I am so confident that in spite of the violence, come the second round they will reconfirm that rejection.”
He insisted he had not been hiding outside the country since the poll but working to win support among other African leaders - the President of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade, sat beside him at the same conference.
Mr Tsvangirai shrugged off any threat to his life that may accompany his return. “Zimbabweans are already facing a very risky environment. I am not a special person, so I am just as at risk as the next Zimbabwean who is confronting the regime - I am as vulnerable as the next person.”
He added if President Mugabe agreed to negotiate “an honourable exit” so the country could move on “I am sure it is a price we all have to pay - a cheaper price than continuing with the conflict.”
PA