Further delay in Zimbabwe’s poll count

CHECKING of votes from Zimbabwe’s disputed presidential poll was put off again yesterday, further delaying the day when the country will know if President Robert Mugabe is to remain in power.

The wait for the March 29 election result has led to a tense standoff, and drawn opposition accusations that President Mugabe is trying to rig the outcome and intimidate opponents.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has invited presidential candidates and their agents to verify the results on Thursday. The process, which was due to start yesterday, could take another week before a result can be made public.

“This exercise will pave the way for the announcement of the result of the presidential election,” state radio said in a notice from the commission.

Police yesterday released nearly 200 people who were arrested last week in a raid carried out on the opposition Movement for Democratic Change headquarters, a lawyer said.

Police had arrested 215 people on Friday, many of whom had fled to Harare to escape mounting violence and intimidation in rural areas that used to be ruling party strongholds, but turned against President Robert Mugabe in the March 29 elections.

Twenty-nine people, mainly women and children, were released almost immediately.

Opposition defence lawyer Alec Muchadehama said the rest were freed from various police stations in the capital yesterday, in accordance with a High Court order issued on Monday.

“All have been released,” he told the AP.

The country’s main human rights group accused the government of using violence to help President Robert Mugabe cling to power, as a senior official called for a national unity government.

While the UN Security Council prepared to meet in New York to discuss the month-long election crisis in the southern African nation, Mugabe’s regime warned it would crack down on violence and prevent “anarchy.”

European Union foreign ministers responded by upping the pressure on Mugabe, calling for a global arms embargo on Zimbabwe after an international outcry last week prevented a Chinese shipment of weapons from reaching the country.

In an apparent offer of reconciliation, Boniface Chidyausiku, Zimbabwe’s UN ambassador, told the BBC that any eventual winner of last month’s presidential election should include opponents in a power-sharing deal.

“Whoever wins the presidency has to come up with a government of national unity,” Chidyausiku said, echoing a call in the state-run Herald newspaper last week for a national unity government to be led by Mugabe.