Africa, West split over Mugabe's win

 


SubHead:   Chretien to await observers' report before acting

Author:     Jan Cienski with files from Jane Taber in Ottawa

  HARARE, Zimbabwe - As Robert Mugabe moved to consolidate his 
victory in elections most observers denounced as rigged, an ugly 
split was opening up in the response from black African nations 
and the West.

  Mr. Mugabe, Zimbabwe's leader for all its 22 years of 
independence, won a fifth term in office yesterday, defeating 
his opponent Morgan Tsvangirai in an election marred by 
violence, intimidation and the manipulation of electoral laws.

  According the Registrar-General's office, Mr. Mugabe received 
56% of the 3.1 million votes cast to Mr. Tsvangirai's 41%.

  The win gives the 78-year-old Mr. Mugabe a six-year term in 
office and was hailed by Patrick Chinamasa, Zimbabwe's Justice 
Minister, as a "runaway victory."

  Mr. Tsvangirai was less complimentary, calling the election "the 
biggest electoral fraud I have ever witnessed in my life." He 
said the result "does not reflect the true will of the people of 
Zimbabwe."

  The despondent former union boss appeared befuddled by the 
result, as if he had never expected Mr. Mugabe to pull out a 
victory using just about every shady tactic in the book.

  "We foresaw electoral fraud but not daylight robbery," he said 
during a brief news conference yesterday.

  George Bush, the U.S. President, led the criticism from the 
West, saying Washington would not recognize Mr. Mugabe's 
government. "We do not recognize the outcome of the election 
because we think it's flawed," Mr. Bush said. "And we are 
dealing with our friends to figure out how to deal with this 
flawed election."

  Colin Powell, his Secretary of State, implied the United States 
may impose new sanctions in addition to an existing travel ban 
affecting Mr. Mugabe's inner circle.

  Jack Straw, Britain's Foreign Secretary, condemned Mr. Mugabe 
for waging a "systematic campaign of violence."

  Jean Chretien, the Prime Minister, was more muted in his 
criticism. Mr. Chretien, who this month headed off a move to 
suspend Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth in advance of the vote, 
said the election of Mr. Mugabe "does not look very good" but 
insisted Canada must wait for the results of a Commonwealth 
report before acting.

  "There is a committee made up of three heads of governments and 
states who will be meeting within two weeks to analyze the 
report of the observers and render a decision," he told the 
Commons yesterday. "We have to follow the process of receiving 
the report from the observers before coming to a definite 
conclusion."

  Opposition critics attacked the Prime Minister for not 
immediately denouncing the election.

  John Reynolds, the Canadian Alliance leader, said Zimbabwe 
should be suspended from the Commonwealth and its High 
Commissioner to Canada "sent packing" until "we straighten this 
mess out."

  In contrast with the West, Zimbabwe's neighbours, including 
regional superpower South Africa, found little to object to in 
the election.

  Sam Motsuenyane, head of a 50-member observer mission from South 
Africa, said the result "should be considered legitimate" and 
blamed the difficulties faced by some voters on "administrative 
oversight."

  The observer team from the Organization of African Unity 
announced that, "in general, the elections were transparent, 
credible, free and fair."

  "The ... team wishes to commend the electoral and polling 
officers for the able manner in which they conducted the 
elections," said Gertrude Mongella, leader of the OAU observers.

  Mr. Mugabe has not been seen since Friday's pre-election rallies 
and made no appearance or comment yesterday.

  Mr. Tsvangirai seemed at a loss over what to do next, saying 
that the leadership of his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) 
would have to meet to come up with a strategy to counter Mr. 
Mugabe's victory.

  
The confusion was widespread throughout his party.

  "We expected we were going to win this election," admitted Hilda 
Mafudze, an MDC member of Parliament who had been threatened by 
Mr. Mugabe's toughs and prevented from campaigning in her home 
riding south of Harare. Mr. Mugabe ended up winning there by 
more than 6,000 votes.

  "It's something we were not prepared for," she said. "We have 
just got to sit down and brainstorm and come with something 
concrete to do."

  Although Mr. Tsvangirai said the people were "seething with 
anger," Mr. Tsvangirai ruled out open rebellion.

  "We seek no confrontation with the state," said the MDC leader, 
who is already facing treason charges for allegedly plotting to 
assassinate Mr. Mugabe, a charge he says was trumped up.

  Domestic observers tended to side with the MDC, denouncing the 
election as fraud-tainted and unfair.

  The Crisis in Zimbabwe Committee, a coalition of church and 
civic groups, called for Zimbabweans to protest the elections 
tomorrow in a "constitutionally acceptable" manner. Zimbabwe's 
security laws make it illegal to call for a general strike.

  The government was taking no chances of a popular uprising, 
putting the military on alert and setting up police roadblocks 
around Harare and other large cities.

  In the working class suburb of Highfield, a strong MDC zone, a 
middle-aged street vendor just clucked and shook his head when 
asked whether people would protest Mr. Mugabe's re-election.

  "Ahh, this country is going to the dogs. But we are scared. We 
are not going to go out on to the streets," he said, looking 
nervously over to where triumphant activists from Mr. Mugabe's 
Zimbabwe African People's Union - Patriotic Front had ripped up 
stacks of a pro-opposition newspaper.

  On the streets of the capital, where Mr. Tsvangirai found his 
greatest support, there was no sign of revolution brewing.

  Thousands of voters in Harare were chased away from polling 
stations on Monday night by police, despite waiting for three 
chaotic days to cast their ballots.

  The MDC says the disorganization in Harare was planned by Mr. 
Mugabe in order to disenfranchise Mr. Tsvangirai's supporters.

  According to the government, as few as 42% of Harare's 800,000 
voters cast their ballots while the rate of participation in Mr. 
Mugabe's rural strongholds approached 69%, a figure disputed by 
the MDC. In many cases neither the MDC nor neutral observers 
were able to monitor voting in more remote polling stations.

  For South Africa, the main concern is regional stability, not 
the niceties of participatory democracy. Zimbabwe's economy has 
imploded, unemployment is near 60%, inflation is running at 112% 
a year and many people in this former breadbasket are going 
hungry.

  South Africa is already trying to stem the flow of economic 
migrants fording the Limpopo River for a better life south of 
the border. The last thing South Africa wants is to add 
thousands of refugees fleeing war and political turmoil.



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