Zimbabwe's opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has threatened to quit power-sharing talks with the ruling Robert Mugabe if the government does not release dozens of abducted activists, reports the Guardian.
"In the past two months more than 42 members of the MDC and civil society have been abducted and their whereabouts are still unknown," said Tsvangirai. "The regime is conducting a deliberate and targeted national terror campaign to undermine the MDC's support within Zimbabwe and the work of the pro-democracy and human rights organisations."
He added: "This situation can no longer continue. The MDC can no longer sit at the same negotiating table with a party that is abducting our members, and other innocent civilians, and refusing to produce any of them before a court of law. Therefore, if these abductions do not cease immediately, and if all the abductees are not released or charged in a court of law by 1 January 2009, I will be asking the MDC's national council to pass a resolution to suspend all negotiations and contact with Zanu-PF. There can be no meaningful talks while a campaign of terror is being waged against our people."
Read more about the abductions here.
In other news, the Harare Tribune reports that Mugabe declared that no African country is brave enough to topple him.
"I was reading recent utterances by Condoleezza Rice that African leaders are not prepared to topple President Mugabe and bring about regime change," [Mugabe] said.
"She condemned this inability on the part of African leaders. How could African leaders ever topple Robert Mugabe, organise an army to come? It is not easy. I do not know of any African country that is brave enough to do that."
Al Jazeera reports that life in ZImbabwe has become "unbearable."
Al Jazeera's Haru Mutasa, reporting from Bindura where Mugabe's Zanu-PF were meeting for a policy conference, said "things are basically unbearable" for the majority of people in Zimbabwe.
"If you don't have the US dollar you can't buy basic products in the supermarkets ... the Zimbabwe currency is pretty much worthless," she said.
Inflation in Zimbabwe has spiralled out of control and the prices of goods are doubling every 24 hours. Unemployment has risen above 80 per cent.
Read more Huffington Post stories on Zimbabwe.