What hope for Zimbabwe’s elections?

This week Robert Mugabe was causing a stir at the UN food summit in Rome. Meanwhile, Morgan Tsvangirai, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader was detained by police for nine hours of his campaign trail. Arthur Mutambara, the leader of a splinter of the opposition MDC, was arrested for writing an editorial criticising the president. Many opposition rallies have been banned and scores of opposition activists arrested. The MDC claims that 65 of its supporters have been killed since March. Thousands have been severely injured and, according to some estimates, 25,000 people displaced. Harassment of the MDC campaign is destroying the party’s organization.