British and U.S. diplomats detained in Zimbabwe

By Nelson Banya

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean police detained U.S. and British diplomats for several hours on Thursday, slashing the tires of their cars after they visited victims of political violence ahead of a presidential vote.

The United States blamed the incident on President Robert Mugabe's government, which Washington accuses of trying to intimidate opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai's supporters ahead of the June 27 run-off election.

"It's an effort to intimidate us so that we won't go out to the rural areas and then the government can continue to beat the citizens and the supporters of the MDC," Jendayi Frazer, the top U.S. diplomat for Africa said in Cape Town.

The diplomats were released after several hours.

Zimbabwe's Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga accused the diplomats of distributing campaign material for Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change and said they refused to disembark at a roadblock when ordered by police.

"The police simply wanted to get to the bottom of the issue. No force or violence was used," Matonga said.

The White House demanded the Zimbabwe government explain its actions and the U.S. State Department said it planned to raise the incident at the U.N. Security Council.

Britain's Foreign Office summoned Zimbabwe's ambassador over the incident.

"This gives us a window into the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans because this sort of intimidation is something that is suffered daily, especially by those who are working in opposition groups," Foreign Secretary David Miliband said.

A British representative at the U.N. food summit in Rome, whose opening session on Tuesday was attended by Mugabe, said: "The UK and U.S. delegation have jointly expressed our displeasure to the Zimbabwe delegation, who refused to listen."

VIOLENCE AND SANCTIONS

Former colonial power Britain, human rights groups and Zimbabwe's opposition accuse Mugabe of a campaign of violence to try to keep his 28-year hold on power. Tsvangirai says 65 people have been killed.

Mugabe blames his opponents for the violence and sanctions imposed by Western countries for the collapse of the once prosperous economy. The opposition says he ruined Zimbabwe.

In an indicator of Zimbabwe's rapid economic decline, its dollar currency plunged to a new low of between 995 million and 1.45 billion to the greenback on Thursday from an average 700 million at the beginning of the week.

The U.S. embassy said the attack on the diplomatic convoy took place in Bindura, 80 km (50 miles) north of Harare.