Zimbabwe election campaign gets underway

The main opposition party in Zimbabwe, the Movement for Democratic Change, says it will go ahead with high-profile election campaign rallies despite continuing political violence.

The MDC president, Morgan Tsvangirai, said he hoped that the presence of international election observers would reduce the violence. Some observers are due in the country next week, in the run-up to parliamentary elections on June 24-25 .

The MDC has held a one-day meeting to brief prospective candidates on issues such as how to deal with political intimidation.

President Mugabe's ZANU-PF party said it was holding rallies in every constituency this weekend.

Political violence has escalated in recent days, with tensions already high over the illegal occupations of white-owned farms. One of the prospective ZANU-PF candidates is the man behind the campaign of farm occupations, Chenjerai Hunzi.

He was fined and given a suspended prison sentence by the high court on Friday for failing to stop the illegal land invasions.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service