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Zim: US appeals to Africans
27/04/2008 12:09 - (SA)
Lusaka - A top US official urged African leaders on Sunday to put pressure on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to release the results of the presidential election, insisting the opposition had won.
The Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) "should ensure that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission releases the results of the elections," said US Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer.
Frazer, the main US envoy for Africa, was speaking in the Zambian capital Lusaka after meeting President Levy Mwanawasa for talks on the post-election crisis in neighbouring Zimbabwe.
Mwanawasa is chairperson of the 14-member SADC, an influential regional bloc which has come under intense pressure to take action on Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe's election commission announced on Saturday that the recount of ballots in the presidential election may be finished by Monday.
Frazer also urged the regional body to put pressure on Mugabe to stop the post-election violence in which the opposition says hundreds of activists have been beaten and detained.
The US official was later due to hold talks with Zambia's former president Kenneth Kaunda, who is a key Mugabe ally.
Zimbabwe held parliamentary and presidential elections on March 29 in which the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZanuPF) lost the majority in parliament for the first time in 28 years.
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