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Tsvangirai silent about run-off
05/05/2008 16:05 - (SA)
Harare - Zimbabwe's opposition leader has decided whether to participate in a presidential run-off, but won't make his choice public until electoral officials set an election date, an aide said on Monday.
Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai's options: concede the second round to long-term, increasingly autocratic President Robert Mugabe, or try to run a campaign in an atmosphere so violent that the opposition chief does not feel safe in his own country.
"We have a decision," Tsvangirai's spokesperson George Sibotshiwe told The Associated Press on Monday. "But we will only announce it when (the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) announces the date of the election."
Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga said last week the constitution requires a second round no sooner than 21 days from the announcement of the results, and no later than a year.
Politically motivated murder
Tsvangirai was in Johannesburg in neighbouring South Africa, Sibotshiwe said, adding the leader would make no comment himself on Monday. Tsvangirai has been travelling to his homeland's neighbours since the first round, saying his priority is rallying international support, but acknowledging he could be arrested or attacked should he go home.
Tsvangirai's party and independent rights groups have accused Mugabe of having delayed the official results while his army and party militants mounted a campaign of violence and intimidation intended to undermine support for the opposition before any run-off.
On Sunday, the Roman Catholic Justice and Peace Commission protested political violence and called on the UN and AU to supervise the run-off.
In a statement to coincide with Sunday services, the Catholic human rights body said the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission could no longer be relied on as a "neutral and non-partisan electoral umpire" after its five-week delay in announcing final results.
The Catholic group also cited witness reports of politically motivated murder, abduction and torture.
Who is behind the unrest?
Also Sunday, the Progressive Teachers Union said teachers, who have traditionally acted as election officers, had been targeted in the political violence. The union said the attacks on teachers were meant to instil fear and prevent them from participating as polling officers in the run-off.
Human Rights Watch said last week it had received reports that more than 100 polling station officers - most of them teachers and low-ranking civil servants - had been detained in an eastern province. The New York-based watchdog described that as an indication the government and its loyalists were targeting those seen as betraying Mugabe.
Mugabe's officials have denied fomenting political violence, instead accusing the opposition of being behind the unrest.
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