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DATE=10/08/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ZIMBABWE / ARREST (L-O)

NUMBER=2-267638

BYLINE=MARTIN RUSHMERE

DATELINE=HARARE

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Police in Zimbabwe say they are preparing to arrest opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai for calling for the violent overthrow of President Robert Mugabe. Mr. Tsvangirai, who heads the Movement for Democratic Change, returns to the country Monday from a trip to Europe and South Africa. Martin Rushmere reports from Harare.

TEXT: Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena says Mr. Tsvangirai will be arrested when he lands at Harare airport. The M-D-C leader is likely to be charged under the Law and Order Maintenance Act, a piece of legislation that was inherited from the minority white government of Ian Smith.

Welshman Ncube, who leads the M-D-C in parliament, says the police would be what he calls - very unwise - in arresting Mr. Tsvangirai and predicts there will be severe civil unrest throughout the country.

During the past 24-hours, armed police have set up roadblocks on all main roads into Harare and have been searching vehicles.

Mr. Tsvangirai told a rally to mark the first year since the founding of the party that if Mr. Mugabe does not retire peacefully - we will remove him by force. He told reporters immediately afterward that he was saying there would be a popular uprising against the president and was not calling for the M-D-C to remove him violently.

In public statements since the rally, the M-D-C has repeatedly said it advocates peaceful change and is totally opposed to violence.

Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-P-F party has said in response to the remarks by the M-D-C leader that it will meet violence with violence. Nathan Shamuyarira, who heads the party's information wing, says

ZANU-P-F) has what he calls - a long and successful history in violence.

Mr. Mugabe has not made any public comment on Mr. Tsvangirai's remarks.

The president has been meeting Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam movement in the United States, and Daniel Ortega, former president of Nicaragua. The two were in Harare as part of a delegation organized by Libyan president Moammar Khadafi. (SIGNED)

NEB/MR/ALW/RAE