Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe’s opposition leader, on Saturday sought to reclaim the initiative in his country’s political crisis, saying he would return to his homeland in the next two days to contest a run-off election against President Robert Mugabe.

His pledge ended several weeks of public equivocation within the opposition Movement for Democratic Change over whether to take part in a second round in the face of a campaign of violent intimidation of MDC activists by Mr Mugabe’s supporters.