US urges Zimbabwe to set presidential runoff date
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States on Wednesday urged Zimbabwean authorities to set a date for a presidential run-off election after they announced it would be postponed for as much as 10 weeks.
"If a run-off is going to happen, there certainly is an obligation on the part of all the international community to push the Zimbabwean government to make sure that there are conditions in place for a free and fair run-off," State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey told reporters.
"And one of the ways that people can be given some additional assurances that that's going to occur is for an actual date to be set, rather than just continued statements that there will be a delay," he said.
Zimbabwe's presidential run-off poll is to be delayed by as much as 10 weeks, a government document obtained by AFP showed, in a move denounced by the opposition as an attempt to "resuscitate" veteran President Robert Mugabe.
In a first round of voting on March 29, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai beat Mugabe by 47.9 to 43.2 percent but fell short of the 50 percent plus one vote required to be declared winner.
The aftermath of the first-round ballot has been marked by unrest in which pro-government militias are accused of intimidating opposition supporters. Many political opponents of the regime have also been arrested.
Casey also said the United States formally protested to Zimbabwe for the police's "harassment" of the US ambassador to Harare, James McGee, while he and other diplomats tried to meet victims of the violence in a hospital.
"It's inappropriate behavior and we wanted to make sure that the government was aware of our concerns about this issue," Casey said.
