Morgan Tsvangirai, prime minister of Zimbabwe's fledgling power-sharing government, asserted his new authority Thursday by visiting detainees of his Movement for Democratic Change held in the country's top maximum-security prison, dpa reported.
Tsvangirai, in a six-vehicle motorcade, swept up to the boom of Chikurubi prison on Harare's outskirts at about 2 pm where prison officers saluted him and allowed the vehicles through to the main prison gate.
"He was allowed in and saw the detainees," said Tsvangirai's spokesman, Joseph Mungwari. "He spoke to prison officials who told him they did not have the authority to release the detainees." He left after about 45 minutes.
Sixteen detainees, 14 of them MDC activists abducted by state agents in an operation that began in October last year, have been tortured and held in solitary confinement since their seizure on allegations they were "training to be terrorists" and plotting 84- year-old Mugabe's overthrow.
The allegations have been fiercely denied by their lawyers. Mugabe's regime repeatedly violated orders for their release and for them to receive medical treatment.
The visit was seen as a test of Tsvangirai's nfluence against President Robert Mugabe, who swore him in as prime minister on Wednesday, signalling the start of the power-sharing government that was the result of seven months of protracted negotiations brokered by southern African leaders.
Observers said Tsvangirai, who has repeatedly demanded the detainees' release and at one stage refused to join the new government unless they were freed, would never have been allowed in the prison previously, and that the visit is an indication of how Mugabe's power can be diminished by the power-sharing agreement.
"I can assure you they are not going to stay in those dungeons for a day or a week later," Tsvangirai told a mass rally of supporters after his inauguration.