Defiant Mugabe vows to hold Zimbabwe run-off
HARARE (AFP) — Zimbabwe's leader Robert Mugabe defied global criticism on Tuesday by vowing to press on with a presidential run-off vote marred by deadly violence, even as his rival remained holed up in an embassy.
"Other people can say what they want, but the elections are ours and we are a sovereign state," he told a rally in Banket, north of Harare, in his first public comments about his opponent's withdrawal from the run-off.
"We will proceed with our election."
He accused the opposition 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."
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.
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".
Zimbabwe's ambassador to the United Nations, Boniface Chidyausiku, said the UN chief's comments on the election were "out of order."
"For him (Ban) to grandstand in New York and suggest that we should postpone the election is out of order as far as we are concerned," he said on South African radio.
Mugabe, 84, is accused by critics of leading the once model economy to ruin and trampling on human rights. The country has the world's highest inflation rate and is experiencing major food shortages.
He has pledged the opposition will never come to power in his lifetime and vowed to fight to prevent it.
Regional criticism has grown, with the ruling party in neighbouring South Africa, the continental powerhouse, issuing its harshest criticism to date of Mugabe's government.
The African National Congress said it was "deeply dismayed by the actions of the government of Zimbabwe which is riding roughshod over the hard-won democratic rights of the people of that country."
Southern African leaders meanwhile planned an emergency meeting for Wednesday on the crisis, the Tanzanian presidency said.
Mugabe earlier accused former colonial ruler Britain and its allies of lying to the world to justify intervention. On Tuesday he blamed the MDC for violence.
"There have been fights, yes, here and there but practically every case of arson has been committed by the MDC. But people have not been interested in knowing the cases committed by the MDC," he said.
"We have countries even here in Africa where hundreds, thousands of people have died during an election but those elections have gone on."
