Defiant Tsvangirai leaves Zimbabwe hospital

By Nelson Banya

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai left hospital on Friday after treatment for what he called an orgy of police beatings, and vowed to keep battling to end President Robert Mugabe's long rule.

Mugabe warned for his part against any "monkey games" by those he called the stooges of his Western critics, whom he accused of funding Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to replace him by means of "violent terrorist acts".

Tsvangirai had been treated for a head wound and other injuries that he said were the result of a savage beating by police following his arrest on Sunday at an anti-Mugabe protest.

Scores of other opposition supporters were arrested and many said they had been beaten in custody.

"Freedom is not cheap," Tsvangirai told Reuters at his home in the capital Harare shortly after he was discharged.

"It's only when people lose freedom that they realize how precious the freedom is ... the struggle continues," the 55-year-old said as he sat on a couch, his wrist bandaged and a blue beret covering a head wound.

Images of a badly bruised and limping Tsvangirai on his way to the hospital earlier this week fueled international outrage and threats by the United States and other nations to tighten sanctions against Mugabe and other senior Zimbabwean officials.

A former trade unionist who has challenged Mugabe in several elections, Tsvangirai said on Friday he was feeling better but had been told to relax by doctors. Supporters say he suffered a fractured skull but doctors have not confirmed this.

In an earlier article for Britain's Independent newspaper on Friday, he said democratic change was in sight in Zimbabwe and his spirit would not be broken by police violence.

"They brutalized my flesh. But they will never break my spirit. I will soldier on until Zimbabwe is free," he wrote, saying he suffered an "orgy of heavy beatings" in custody.

"NO MONKEY GAMES"

The government has accused Tsvangirai and his group of resisting arrest and waging a violent, militia-style campaign to topple 83-year-old Mugabe, a claim the opposition rejected.

Mugabe, who often blames Zimbabwe's economic problems on sabotage by Britain and the United States, on Thursday told his Western critics to "go hang" and on Friday renewed his attack.

"They hope the MDC will come to power through such terrorism," Mugabe said in an address at a meeting of his ZANU-PF party youth league.

"They are wrong and stand for great shock if they continue to stretch our patience. As for the stooges: let them get this as friendly advice: no monkey games here," he added.