Where is Zimbabwe's Tsvangirai?
Last month, the main opposition leader in Zimbabwe, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, was arrested and whilst in custody, badly beaten. He was not the only one. Scores of political opponents of the regime in Zimbabwe were also beaten including one woman you may have seen interviewed by the BBC last week - she was 67 for goodness' sake!
Today, their party "The Movement for Democratic Change" (MDC) planned to hold a press conference about the violence meted out that day to those men and women whose only "crime" was to dare to speak out against the Mugabe regime.
Before the conference could start this morning however, Mr Tsvangirai and around 20 members of staff were arrested at the MDC Headquarters. I used to work at SNP Headquarters and the thought of anything similar happening here is - well, it's unthinkable.
The MDC press conference was no doubt timed to coincide with the meeting of the Southern African leaders in Tanzania who today are talking about Zimbabwe and now promising to give Mugabe (who will be in attendance) "a frosty reception".
I don't have any answers but I can't help thinking that frosty receptions are what you gave to your pal when she pulled the skipping ropes off you in the playground aged ten and a half. I'm being unfair I'm sure but all I know is that it must be possible to find a peaceful resolution to the problems in Zimbabwe.
Opposition politicians must be allowed to speak out. Let's face it, if we in Scotland had inflation running at 1700%, wouldn't even the most timid of you have something to say about it? And you wouldn't expect to be beaten up by the police for it!
Rumour has it that even some of the "old guard" in Mugabe's own Zanu-PF Party are planning to desert him which is fine but they are still the party that has presided over this absolutely horrific time for all but the ruling elite.
On Monday the SNP's Angus Robertson called for the international community to be ready to assist with the economic recovery that this country will so sorely need post Mugabe. The more rigorously the sanctions and travel bans are enforced on the ruling elite, the quicker that can begin.
In the meantime, what have they done with Morgan Tsvangirai? How do we know he is not being given the same brutal treatment as a month ago? I went onto the website of the Movement for Democratic Change and he couldn't be found there either! When you click on the link for his name, for any of their names, when you click to get more information on elections, on policies, on the violence, up comes a message saying that the page was either moved "or never existed". It may be a simple server problem but it gave me a chill all the same.
