Mugabe's Last Stand?

Is this the beginnings of his last stand against the opposition? He's moved to close opposition offices, and he's sent the military to surround a hotel where journalists congregate.

President Robert Mugabe's government raided the offices of the main opposition movement and rounded up foreign journalists Thursday in an ominous indication that he may use intimidation and violence to keep his grip on power.

Police raided a hotel used by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and ransacked some of the rooms. Riot police also surrounded another hotel housing foreign journalists, and took away several of them, according to a man who answered the phone there.

"Mugabe has started a crackdown," Movement for Democratic Change general secretary Tendai Biti told The Associated Press. "It is quite clear he has unleashed a war."

Biti said the raid at the Meikles Hotel targeted "certain people ... including myself." Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was "safe" but had canceled plans for a news conference, he said.

For those who thought that the election results, even ones that went badly for Mugabe would have sent him off into the sunset quietly, are likely to be proven wrong. I wish I could say the same, as I warned that Mugabe wasn't going to go quietly and that he might try to stick around a while longer with the military's assistance.

There continue to be questions about the election results as they trickle in. Some have noted that election results from various areas of the country are finally coming into the Electoral Commission, despite the election taking place last weekend. If you're smelling the foul stench of foul play, you're probably right.

One has to wonder just how long the opposition groups will continue to take the abuse heaped upon their nation by Mugabe and his thuggish and dictatorial power.

UPDATE:
More information has come out about Mugabe's latest actions to thwart democracy in Zimbabwe:

With the government facing election results that threaten its 28-year reign, security officers raided the Miekles Hotel in central Harare on Thursday afternoon, searching rooms that the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, had rented for election operations, said Tendai Biti, the party’s general secretary.

About the same time, a second group of riot officers sealed off the York Lodge, a small hotel in suburban Harare that is frequented by foreign journalists. A lodge worker who refused to be identified for safety reasons said six people were detained, including Barry Bearak, a correspondent for The New York Times who was later located in a Harare jail. The identities of the others were not clear.

Leaders of the Movement for Democratic Change said the raids heralded a campaign of political repression to safeguard President Robert G. Mugabe, one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders. His party, known as ZANU-PF, has already lost control of the lower house of Parliament, according to official results from Saturday’s elections, a huge turnabout in a nation where Mr. Mugabe has long controlled virtually all levers of power.

As I warned earlier in the week, Mugabe isn't going to go quietly into the night, despite what some may hope.