Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai returned to his homeland Saturday, arriving at the main airport with little fanfare before speeding off in a three-car convoy. Police had manned roadblocks on the airport route, but they did not intervene as Tsvangirai left the Harare airport after returning home for the first time in more than six weeks on a flight from South Africa. Officials of his Movement for Democratic Change said he would first be briefed by other party leaders and was scheduled to address reporters later this afternoon.

"I feel quite safe," Tsvangirai told The Associated Press on the way to the Johannesburg airport earlier Friday.

Tsvangirai faces a June 27 runoff election against the increasingly autocratic President Robert Mugabe. Tsvangirai won the first round of voting at the end of March against Mugabe and two other candidates, but not, according to official results, by the simple majority needed to avoid a second round against the longtime president.

Independent human rights groups say opposition supporters have been targeted in a campaign of violence aimed at ensuring the 84-year-old Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, wins the second round. The violence poses serious questions about whether the runoff can be free and fair.

Tsvangirai has spent most of the time since the first round outside the country. He planned to return to Zimbabwe a week ago but delayed the trip after his party said he was the target of a military assassination plot. Tsvangirai has survived at least three assassination attempts.

On the way to the airport in South Africa, he said farewell to his family with a quick: "OK. Cheers," on the front porch of his northern Johannesburg home. One of his twin daughters snapped pictures with her cell phone. Tsvangirai said it was not clear when his wife and six children would join him in Zimbabwe.

Among the assassination attempts Tsvangirai, 56, has survived was one in 1997 by unidentified assailants who tried to throw him from a 10th floor office window. Last year, he was hospitalized after a brutal assault by police at a prayer rally, and images seen around the world of his bruised and swollen face have come to symbolize the plight of dissenters in Zimbabwe.

Tsvangirai said he left Zimbabwe April 8 to present regional leaders with information that Mugabe's military planned attacks on the opposition. He said then he expected to be away only a few weeks, but instead embarked on an international tour designed to rally support for democracy in Zimbabwe.

"I'm sure that we have managed to ensure an African consensus about the crisis in Zimbabwe," he said, adding it was now time to turn his attention to rallying his supporters in Zimbabwe.

Written By ANGUS SHAW

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