Opposition leader defiant as he campaigns

Описание: (8 Jun 2008) SHOTLIST

1. Morgan Tsvangirai stepping out of car
2. Various of crowd cheering
3. Various Tsvangirai sloganeering
4. Wide of crowd
5. Wide of Tsvangirai delivering speech
6. SOUNDBITE (Shona) Morgan Tsvangirai, Movement for Democratic Change leader:
"I know that they are harassing you in the countryside as well as the cities, but let me tell you this, the more he (President Robert Mugabe) oppresses people, the more we are going to reject him resoundingly on the 27th."
7. Cutaway of women in the crowd listening
8. SOUNDBITE: (Shona) Morgan Tsvangirai, Movement for Democratic Change leader:
"This country has reached dangerous levels because of the people's suffering. Never before in the history of mankind have a people suffered so much, especially those not in a war."
9. Crowd listening

STORYLINE:

The leader of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party addressed his first campaign rally in the province of Kwekwe on Sunday as the run-off presidential election on June 27 neared.

An estimated one thousand people braved state intimidation to listen to Morgan Tsvangirai's first public speech since his return to the country in late May.

Tsvangirai concluded a tour of Matebeleland province earlier on Sunday without addressing a single rally - all rallies planned were cancelled after police indicated they would not allow them to be held.

Police had repeatedly barred the MDC from holding rallies, citing a tense political atmosphere.

Independent human rights groups say opposition supporters have been beaten and killed by government and ruling party thugs to ensure 84-year-old president Robert Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, wins the second round.

Tsvangirai won the most votes in the first round in March, but not enough to avoid a runoff.

"I know that they are harassing you in the countryside as well as the cities, but let me tell you this, the more he oppresses people, the more we are going to reject him resoundingly on the 27th," Tsvangirai told the rally, referring to Mugabe.

The opposition says at least 60 of its supporters have been slain in the past two months.

Tsvangirai, who has been the target of at least three assassination attempts, left Zimbabwe after the March vote.

Mugabe was lauded early in his rule for campaigning for racial reconciliation and building the economy.

But in recent years, he has been accused of holding onto power through fraud and intimidation, and trampling on political and human rights.

Zimbabwe's collapsing economy was a major concern of voters during the first round of voting.

People are going hungry in what was once the region's breadbasket, with the world's highest inflation rate putting staples out of reach.

Zimbabwe's economic decline has been blamed on the collapse of the key agriculture sector after the seizures - often violent and at Mugabe's orders - of farmland from whites.

Mugabe claimed the seizures begun in 2002 were to benefit poor blacks, but many of the farms went to his loyalists.

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