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Mugabe 'open to discussion'
25/06/2008 07:36 - (SA)
Harare - Zimbabwe's leader Robert Mugabe said he was open to negotiations but vowed to press on with a presidential run-off vote marred by deadly violence, as his rival called on Wednesday for international military force.
"Other people can say what they want, but the elections are ours and we are a sovereign state," Mugabe told a rally in Banket, north of Harare, on Tuesday in his first public comments about his opponent's withdrawal from the run-off.
"We will proceed with our election."
He accused the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party leader Morgan Tsvangirai - who said that violence has made a free and fair vote impossible - of seeking to withdraw because he was scared of losing.
"The MDC leader saw this wave of political hurricane coming his way. He is frightened, frightened of the people," Mugabe said.
"We hear that he has sought refuge at the Dutch embassy. Seeking refuge, what for? Nobody wants to harm him."
Mugabe said he was open to negotiations after Friday's run-off election, state media reported.
"We are open, open to discussion, but we have our own principles," government mouthpiece The Herald newspaper quoted Mugabe as saying at two rallies on Tuesday.
"If they (the opposition) have problems they can always bring them forward."
'The verdict is ours as the people of Zimbabwe'
Mugabe also warned that the country would resist outside interference in its affairs.
"The verdict is ours as the people of Zimbabwe," he declared. "They can shout as loud as they want from Washington and London but our people will deliver the final verdict."
Tsvangirai meanwhile called for world leaders to back their tough rhetoric with "military force" in his country, in a comment piece published on Wednesday.
Tsvangirai wrote in Britain's Guardian newspaper that the United Nations had to go further than verbal condemnation of Mugabe and move on to "active isolation" which required "a force to protect the people".
"We do not want armed conflict, but the people of Zimbabwe need the words of indignation from global leaders to be backed by the moral rectitude of military force," he wrote.
"Such a force would be in the role of peacekeepers, not trouble-makers.
"They would separate the people from their oppressors and cast the protective shield around the democratic process for which Zimbabwe yearns."
Tsvangirai has been detained several times while trying to campaign for the second-round vote after he failed to clinch an absolute majority in the March 29 polls, in which Mugabe lost control of parliament.
Possible default victory
The MDC hand-delivered a letter to the electoral commission on Tuesday confirming his withdrawal, but Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa told AFP it was too late to do so.
He said that if Tsvangirai had wanted to pull out he should have done so 21 days before the first round of voting on March 29.
Tsvangirai's letter said the 21-day rule applies only to the first-round vote and not a run-off and pointed out that under Zimbabwean law a run-off should be scheduled within 21 days of the first round - which did not occur.
The government's insistence on pushing ahead with the vote sets up a possible default victory for Mugabe, who has ruled the country since independence from Britain in 1980.
International calls to postpone the vote have intensified, with UN chief Ban Ki-moon warning that holding the election "would only deepen the divisions within the country and produce results that cannot be credible".
Tsvangirai announced over the weekend he was pulling out of the election because of rising violence, saying he could not ask supporters to risk their lives by voting.
His letter to the electoral commission on Tuesday said 86 people had been killed, 10 000 homes destroyed and 200 000 people displaced in the violence, which Mugabe's critics have blamed on his supporters.
Tsvangirai took refuge in the Dutch mission on Sunday night after announcing he would not challenge Mugabe in the run-off. He told AFP by telephone he would leave when he was "satisfied that it's safe to do so".
"My hosts have said I can stay for as long as I don't feel it's safe to leave... probably within the next two days," he added.
The UN Security Council has condemned the violence in the country, while Britain, France and the United States all branded Mugabe's regime "illegitimate".
- AFP
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Zimbabwe Special Report
