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DATE=10/09/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-267670

TITLE=ZIMBABWE / OPPOSITION (L-ONLY)

BYLINE=MARTIN RUSHMERE

DATELINE=HARARE

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has returned to his homeland, and he says he is willing to face arrest for calling on President Robert Mugabe to resign. Martin Rushmere was at a news conference at Mr. Tsvangirai's home in Harare, and has the story.

TEXT: The leader of the Movement for Democratic Change told reporters at his home in Harare that he had come back into Zimbabwe legally, but declined to say how he had traveled.

assignments.neb-wire

/// TSVANGIRAI ACT ///

I was actually afraid that if we landed in the main

airport, with the current situation in the country, it

may have caused a lot of problems. I decided

that the best way was to find a safe place that

was not going to cause a public response.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. Tsvangirai was expected back in Harare on a flight from Johannesburg. Police had warned that he would be arrested when he stepped off the aircraft and had thrown a cordon around the airport, which prevented a group of M-D-C supporters from getting to the airport.

In another incident, M-D-C supporters were tear-gassed at the Harare magistrate's court while waiting for three M-D-C members of parliament to appear on charges of publicly calling for the overthrow of President Mugabe. The hearing was postponed until Tuesday.

Mr. Tsvangirai told the news conference: "I am sitting here waiting for the police. Arrest is a possibility and not a probability. I have committed no offense."

Mr. Tsvangirai repeatedly said that the M-D-C is committed to peaceful change and is completely opposed to violence.

The opposition leader said he met with former South African president Nelson Mandela and asked him -- as Mr. Tsvangirai put it -- to tell Mr. Mugabe to take the honorable way out.

Mr. Tsvangirai says the situation in Zimbabwe is very similar to that of Yugoslavia. He suggests that Mr. Mugabe is facing the same depth of opposition as the recently ousted president, Slobodan Milosevic. (Signed)

NEB/MR/KL/WTW