MDC to contest run-off against Mugabe
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The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai has announced that he was going back to Zimbabwe to contest a second-round run-off in the presidential elections.
"The MDC has decided that we will contest the run-off election," Tsvangirai told a press conference in Pretoria, South Africa on Saturday, flanked by the leadership of his party.
Tsvangirai said his supporters would feel "betrayed" if he did not face Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in the run-off.
Tsvangirai has said previously he won the first round outright and that official figures showing a second round is necessary are fraudulent.
Opposition officials and independent human rights activist have accused Mugabe of orchestrating violence against the opposition since the first round on March 29.
They also have questioned whether a second round could be free and fair.
Tsvangirai also called for an end to violence and asked the Southern African Development Community to send peacekeepers to monitor an upcoming presidential run-off.
He detailed a series of conditions needed to ensure a fair election against veteran President Robert Mugabe, who lost the first round of disputed elections on March 29.
"We have given some conditions to SADC (Southern African Development Community) for the run-off," he said.
"One, total secession of all violence; number two, unfettered access by international observers; number three, the reconstitution of ZEC (Zimbabwe's electoral commission); number four, media access should be unfettered; number five SADC should provide peacekeeping to curtail violence."
Tsvangirai criticised the ZEC, which has played a central role in the country's elections.
Results from the first round were delayed by five weeks and no date has been given for the second-round run-off despite a legal requirement for it to take place within 21 days of the first-round results being announced.
"ZEC is partisan to Zanu-PF," Tsvangirai said, referring to Mugabe's party, which has ruled the country since independence from Britain in 1980.
The SADC is a regional African body that has been traditionally reluctant to criticise Mugabe, but some of its members are losing patience with the 84-year-old
Meanwhile, South African President Thabo Mbeki arrived in Harare on Friday for his first talks with Zimbabwean counterpart Robert Mugabe since the results of a March 29 presidential election were announced.
Mbeki was met at Harare international airport by Mugabe before the pair drove off together to State House, an AFP correspondent reported. AFP
