Zanu-PF Vows to Go Ahead With Zimbabwe Election

Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party today pledged to go ahead with a presidential election run-off in Zimbabwe this week.

The move came

Mugabe's justice minister, Patrick Chinamasa, ridiculed Tsvangirai's announcement, made yesterday, that he was withdrawing because he was not prepared to ask people to risk death by voting for him.

"Zanu-PF is not treating the threats seriously - it is a nullity," Chinamasa was quoted as saying by the state-run Herald newspaper.

"We are proceeding with our campaign to romp to victory on Friday."

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change leadership met and decided to withdraw from what it called a "violent, illegitimate sham of an election".

Its decision came amid the murders by Zanu-PF militia and security forces of 100 opposition activists, the torture and rape of thousands of MDC supporters, and a state-orchestrated campaign of terror across swathes of the country.

"Mugabe has declared war, and we will not be part of that war," Tsvangirai said.

"The militia, war veterans and even Mugabe himself have made it clear that anyone that votes for me in the forthcoming election faces the very real possibility of being killed.

"We in the MDC cannot ask them to cast their vote on June 27 when that vote could cost them their lives. We believe a credible election, which reflects the will of the people, is impossible."

The collapse of the elections drew immediate condemnation from the British, French and US governments.

The crisis will move to the UN security council today as the international community considers new sanctions against the Zanu-PF leadership.

"If Mugabe thinks this finishes it, he's in for a big surprise. He has united the world against him," Mark Malloch Brown, the foreign office minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, told the Guardian.

The White House added: "The government of Zimbabwe and its thugs must stop the violence now."

Today, the African Union expressed its "grave concern" at the situation.

The union was closely monitoring events following Tsvangirai's announcement, Jean Ping, chairman of the executive arm, the African Union commission, said.

"This development, and the increasing acts of violence in the run-up to the second round of the presidential election, are a matter of grave concern," he added in a statement quoted by Reuters.

The union was holding talks with a mediation team led by the South African president, Thabo Mbeki, to see how it could help, he said.

South Africa has faced intense international criticism for failing to use its influence on Mugabe's regime to try and rein in anti-opposition violence prior to Friday's vote.

On Saturday, Tsvangirai said he was opposed to withdrawing from the vote. The party's national election director, Ian Makone, was also against pulling out, saying it would hand victory to Mugabe.

However, Makone said the leadership had been swayed by the view of party officials on the ground that they could no longer in good conscience ask people to vote when it would put them in danger.

"Listening to the grass roots was the tipping point: that here we've got the bullet versus the ballot," he said. "The biggest problem was going to be deploying polling agents. Persuading youngsters to lay down their lives was not an easy thing to do."

Tsvangirai said police were "reduced to bystanders while Zanu-PF militia commit crimes against humanity varying from rape, torture, murder, arson, abductions and other atrocities".

The MDC leader also accused the ruling party of "spearheading a terror campaign in rural and urban areas", and Mugabe's security cabinet and state intelligence of overseeing it. He said "death and hit squads are on the loose in all provinces".

He said his party structures have been "decimated" with the arrest of one of Tendai Biti, the secretary general, on treason charges, and the detention of hundreds of other officials.

The MDC leader also accused the government of crippling his campaign by banning rallies and repeatedly arresting him, and the state media of conduction an unprecedented campaign of "hate and vilification" against him.

Hours before the announcement, Zanu-PF militia prevented him from holding a rally in Harare by chasing away and beating opposition supporters.