Opposition leader evades police and sneaks home to Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe's opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, was last night engaged in a bizarre waiting game with the authorities, after dodging a massive police operation to arrest him and sneaking back into the country to drive home and hug his wife.

Zimbabwe's opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, was last night engaged in a bizarre waiting game with the authorities, after dodging a massive police operation to arrest him and sneaking back into the country to drive home and hug his wife.

Amid threats from the police that Mr Tsvangirai's arrest on incitement-to-violence charges was "imminent", the mood was tense in the capital, Harare. Police used tear gas on two demonstrations and arrested up to 12 supporters of Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Three of the party's MPs spent their second night in custody, held without charge.

After a day of playing cat-and-mouse with the police, who were present in force at the country's ports of entry, Mr Tsvangirai, 48, who had been in South Africa, turned up at his house in a Harare suburb at 5pm yesterday. He greeted friends and family, spoke to journalists, then phoned the police to give himself up.

Mr Tsvangirai was unrepentant over his comments at a rally 10 days ago that it was time for President Robert Mugabe to resign and that "if you don't want to go we will remove you violently". The government claimed his words were an incitement to violence and brought the name of the country's leader into disrepute.

Yesterday, the MDC leader said: "I have no regrets over the statement I made. Mugabe either chooses to go peacefully or the people may resort to spontaneous action. If I have committed an offence, I must face the due process of law, and I have to hand myself over to the police." He asked his supporters "not to get excited over this hullabaloo".

Mr Tsvangirai, who is believed to have used a private plane to re-enter Zimbabwe,said that he had met regional leaders during his trip, including the former South African president Nelson Mandela.

"He still holds immense influence and I asked him to consider convincing his colleague up here [President Mugabe] to go," said Mr Tsvangirai.

The disclosure of his meeting with Mr Mandela is likely to embarrass Thabo Mbeki. The current South African president has come under fire for tacitly supporting the violent campaign of land invasions under way in Zimbabwe and for failing to condemn government-orchestrated attacks. These attacks left 30 dead in the run-up to June's parliamentary elections, in which the MDC won 57 out of 120 seats.

Refusing to divulge how he had dodged police and re-entered Zimbabwe, Mr Tsvangirai said: "It will be in my memoirs" and borrowed a mobile phone to call the police. At first, falling victim to Zimbabwe's ropey phone system, he got no reply. Later, he claimed to have reached the police commissioner's spokesman, whom he said sounded surprised and embarrassed.

Last night, the spokesman, Wayne Brudzijena, contradicted his own previous statements, telling The Independent that "no decision has been taken as to whether to arrest him" and that the matter will be discussed today.

However, three MDC MPs last night remained in custody, as did up to 12 party activists arrested during a demonstration near Harare airport yesterday morning.

Police said the three MPs, Job Sikhala, Tafadzwa Musekiwa and Justin Mutenda Dzamera, had been questioned over allegedly inciting violence at a rally on Saturday. It was not clear what, if any, charges would be brought against them.