World Jun. 06, 2008 - 04:29AM JST ( 4 )

HARARE —

Zimbabwe police detained U.S. and British diplomats Thursday in a dramatic confrontation at a roadblock amid signs of an intensifying crackdown ahead of a presidential run-off election.

The incident came as the Zimbabwe government moved to indefinitely suspend all aid work, a source with a national NGO said on condition of anonymity. Notices have been sent to aid groups informing them of the decision, the source said.

The confrontation at the roadblock, which occurred after what the government described as a gathering at the home of an opposition supporter, drew strong reactions from Britain and the United States.

“We are going to raise this at the Security Council ... and I sincerely hope that this time the Security Council does not consider the mistreatment of diplomats to be an internal matter for Zimbabwe,” U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.

The U.N. Security Council on Thursday “expressed concern” over the incident during consultations and urged “respect of the Vienna Convention, in particular protection of diplomats and property,” Jeff Delaurentis, a minister-counselor at the U.S. mission to the U.N., told reporters.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband condemned the detention of the diplomats as “a serious incident.”

The Zimbabwe government said it was “outraged” over the diplomats’ actions.

The convoy of three vehicles was initially stopped at a checkpoint in the Bindura region before making a getaway and then later pulled over again, U.S. embassy officials said.

“The police forced them (the diplomats) off the road and fortunately we had a good driver,” U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee told reporters.

“They spiked our vehicle and slashed the tires. The military came in, war vets came in and they threatened to burn my people,” he said, referring to hardline supporters of President Robert Mugabe, who is currently in Rome.

“They were finally all released although they badly beat up our local driver. Fortunately all of them are now back.”

Zimbabwe’s government said the diplomats had been involved in a “commotion” at the activist’s home.

“The British and American diplomats had gone to a house in Bindura where they addressed a gathering. There was commotion and police were called in,” Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga said.

“When police arrived, they fled and then they were stopped at a roadblock on the way.

“When they refused to disembark following orders by the police, police then deflated the tires of one of the vehicles.”

Asked for the identity of the person who lived in the house, Matonga said he was a member of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

It was another in a series of incident in the lead up to the vote on June 27, when Mugabe faces opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

On Wednesday, police detained Tsvangirai for nearly nine hours before releasing him without charge.

A spokesman at the U.S. embassy in Harare said that five Americans, four Britons and a number of local staff had been detained in Thursday’s incident.

McGee said any dispute with the diplomats should have been taken up with the foreign ministry but Zimbawe was now “lawless”.

“This government has been involved in a campaign of intimidation against its own citizens and now they are trying to intimidate diplomats, British and American diplomats, to keep us from going out in the countryside to witness what they are doing against the people of Zimbabwe.”

Mugabe on Tuesday accused the West of using non-governmental bodies and opposition political parties to try and bring him down.

A source with Zimbabwe’s National Association of Non-Governmental Organizations said a letter from the Public Service Minister Nicholas Goche said all aid work was being suspended “until further notice.”

“It has hereby come to my attention that a number of NGOs involved in humanitarian operations are breaching the terms and conditions of their registration,” Goche said in the letter, according to the source, whose group received it Thursday.

Many Zimbabweans, particularly in rural areas, rely on food aid due to shortages of basic commodities such as cooking oil and cornmeal.

Violence has also mounted ahead of the vote.

According to the MDC, around 60 of its supporters have been killed by pro-Mugabe militias in the build-up to the run-off.

The opposition says the violence is intended to frighten off voters after Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in the first round of voting on March 29 but officially fell short of an outright majority.

Wire reports