Zimbabwe opposition leader vows street protests on the way

Zimbabwe’s main opposition leer said Tuesday he will roll out anti-government street protests this year, declaring that collapsing ecomy will improve only if political issues, including a long-disputed election, are resolved. Nelson Chamisa told hundreds of Movement for Democratic Change party supporters in capital, Harare, that he will use protests to push for a ”transitional authority” to run sourn African nation until credible elections are held.

“This year is going to be a year of demonstrations and action,” he said to cheers. “It is time to fight for a Zimbabwe we all want, and have been dreaming of. Come what may, we will t be intimidated." Zimbabwe held largely peaceful elections in 2018 in a transition from former leer Robert Mugabe's nearly four-dece rule. But days later military shot de several people in Harare as opposition supporters protested a delay in releasing results. President Emmerson Mnangagwa, a former Mugabe protege, has said Chamisa should accept election results, but opposition leer still asserts vote was rigged even though constitutional court threw out his legal challenge.

Zimbabwe's military and police have crushed subsequent anti-government protests, while opposition events are routinely banned. Police were uncharacteristically absent at Tuesday's rally, although officers mounted roblocks on ros leing into downtown and circulated with loudspeakers shouting: "Don't be used, please go to work." Local churches have failed to bring Mnangagwa and Chamisa to negotiating table, while former South African president Thabo Mbeki, with support of regional Sourn African Development Community, visited Zimbabwe late last year to push for dialogue.

ecomy has continued to deteriorate, erasing hopes of improved fortunes that greeted fall of Mugabe in 2017. At rally on Tuesday, his first this year, Chamisa said military, which led coup against Mugabe and continues to hold significant influence in political matters, should take part in any future dialogue.