Court hears Zimbabwe poll bid as opposition cries for help
HARARE (AFP) — Zimbabwe's opposition stepped up pleas for foreign help ahead of a second day of court hearings Wednesday that could force the publication of long-awaited presidential election results.
Eleven days on from the poll, President Robert Mugabe's grip on power showed no signs of weakening despite mounting international pressure for the release of results the opposition says should mean the end of his 28-year rule.
The good news for opposition leader and self-proclaimed victor Morgan Tsvangirai is that a judge has started hearing the case, the bad news is the legal wrangling could drag on for days.
Even if Justice Tendai Ucheni orders the election commission to immediately publish the outcome there is no guarantee it will and Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF has pre-empted events by calling for a total recount.
The opposition, which gained control of parliament for the first time in the March 29 polls, accuses Mugabe of stalling for time while he mobilises militias to intimidate people into voting for him in a possible second-round run-off.
There is no sign of this on the ground, although a farmers union said Tuesday that Mugabe supporters had driven 60 white farmers off their land since the weekend, when the president spoke out on the emotive land issue.
The number two of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) appealed Tuesday for greater support from African heads of state and warned of violence ahead.
Drawing a parallel to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, in which some 800,000 people lost their lives, Tendai Biti urged institutions such as the African Union and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to take a clear stand as he reiterated party claims that pro-government militias were being armed.
"We (Africa) responded poorly in Rwanda and a million people were killed," Biti told a press conference.
"I say don't wait for dead bodies on the streets of Harare. Intervene now. There's a constitutional and legal crisis in Zimbabwe."
In a bid to force an end to the presidential results delay, the MDC has been trying to persuade the high court to order the electoral commission to release them forthwith.
A high court judge agreed on Tuesday to consider the MDC's case urgently but the hearing was held over until Wednesday, when it was due to reopen at 0800 GMT.
ZANU-PF has already endorsed the 84-year-old Mugabe for a run-off, which should be held on April 19 if the official results show that none of the candidates achieved more than 50 percent of the vote.
Mugabe, viewed by many in the region as a hero for his role in winning independence from Britain in 1980, has presided over a staggering decline in Zimbabwe's economy and is accused of numerous human rights abuses.
Once the breadbasket of southern Africa, the country is now facing six-digit inflation and an unemployment rate of 80 percent. Even basics such as bread and cooking oil are in short supply.
