Some news from Zimbabwe that has not been given much prominence in the UK

The Associated Press report that:

"HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — U.S. and British diplomats were attacked Thursday as they tried to investigate political violence in Zimbabwe and a U.S. Embassy staffer was beaten, an embassy spokesman said.

U.S. Ambassador James McGee, who was not with the convoy, told CNN that Zimbabwean police and military officers and so-called war veterans, a group of often violent supporters of President Robert Mugabe, were responsible for what he called an "illegal action."

"The war veterans threatened to burn the vehicles with my people inside unless they got out of the vehicles and accompanied the police to a station nearby," McGee said, saying he was in touch with the group by mobile phone.

Five Americans, four Britons and three Zimbabweans were in the three-car convoy, he said.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Paul Engelstad said the group was still being held some six hours after being stopped at a roadblock just north of Harare.

A British government spokesman later said the British diplomats had been released unharmed. But Downing Street spokesman Michael Ellam did not discuss the status of the American diplomats."

The BBC report it slightly differently:

"Police in Zimbabwe detained US and UK diplomats for several hours as they investigated political violence there, US ambassador James McGee has said.

Mr McGee told the BBC there had earlier been a bid to force their convoy off the road in the town of Bindura when they refused to go to a police station.

He said their tyres were also slashed and a Zimbabwean driver beaten up.

The US and UK governments denounced the incident and demanded an explanation from the Zimbabwean authorities."

Either the British and American diplomats were beaten or they weren't but does it really matter? Robert Mugabe is still terrorising and starving Zimbabweans in the run-up to the run-off Presidential election, he is still using food aid as a weapon and imprisoning the true winner of the first round of the Presidential election, Morgan Tsvangirai, for eight hours on his return to Zimbabwe. Mugabe supporters have also petrol-bombed an office of Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change in the southern province of Masvingo, killing at least two party officials.