Zimbabwe opposition fears growing post-election crackdown

Zimbabwe authorities are abducting opposition activists and launching court cases to suppress protests, the opposition MDC party said today, despite the president's boast of introducing new freedoms to criticise his government.

Since the knife-edge election result was declared early Friday, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) say they have been the target of a brutal crackdown that exposes President Emmerson Mnangagwa's claims to respect rights and halt repression.

Mnangagwa has blamed the MDC for fomenting post-vote unrest, but he has also vowed to usher in a more open Zimbabwe than under Robert Mugabe's 37-year rule that ended last year.

Last week, six people died after troops in the capital Harare opened fire at protests against alleged election fraud, sparking an international outcry and raising grim memories of the Mugabe era.

"It's getting dicier by the day, we know the security forces are looking for 4,000 individuals," opposition MDC leader Nelson Chamisa's spokesman Nkululeko Sibanda told AFP, citing state media reports.

"They are intimidating people. At their houses they're going with accusations of serious crimes and they're taking people without telling anyone -- and these people can't be found in police stations.

"They're trying to incapacitate the opposition, so that there will be no resistance or civil action against the fake election results." - 'Taken by soldiers' -