Zimbabwe braces for strike; summit takes on vote crisis
LUSAKA, Zambia (CNN) — Zimbabwe’s opposition party called for a general strike to start Tuesday, the day after the country’s High Court is due to decide whether to force publication of presidential election results, a party spokesman said Saturday.
The strike would involve workers and others staying home in protest, days after Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s government banned political rallies.
Opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai and his supporters say they believe that the results will show Tsvangirai won the election outright.
He has said he would not take part in a runoff with Mugabe, which the incumbent government has suggested is likely.
Mugabe, 84, is the only ruler Zimbabwe has had since British rule of the former Rhodesia came to end in 1980.
He has been re-elected several times but often running either unopposed or in elections that prompted charges of fraud and state-sponsored terrorism against opponents.
Earlier Saturday, Leaders from southern Africa convened in Zambia’s capital for a meeting aimed at trying to resolve the dispute over the release of the presidential election results.
Tsvangirai’s party, the Movement for Democratic Change, has appealed to Zimbabwe’s High Court to compel the Electoral Commission to release the results.
A decision is expected Monday.
Tsvangirai already has declared victory based on vote counts posted at polling stations in Zimbabwe’s 210 voting constituencies.
The country’s Electoral Commission, however, said Saturday that it will do recounts in at least 23 voting districts where Mugabe’s ruling party, Zanu-PF, has claimed discrepancies. Commission chairman Justice George Chiweshe said that a recount would be held April 19, according to the state-run Sunday Mail.
Mugabe, who is under pressure on diplomatic and domestic fronts to resolve the crisis, initially planned to attend the summit of the Southern African Development Community, but a government spokesman said Friday that he was instead sending three Cabinet ministers and a foreign affairs secretary.
The summit was convened by Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa.
Ahead of the session, South African President Thabo Mbeki held talks with Mugabe in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital.
Tsvangirai, who is at the summit, met with Mbeki in Johannesburg on Thursday night.
There has been growing pressure on Mbeki to step in and help resolve the election. Mbeki’s office did not disclose details of his meeting with Mugabe.
Zimbabwe’s state-run newspaper, The Herald, has indicated that neither Mugabe nor Tsvangirai received enough votes in the election to avoid a runoff. A candidate must receive 50 percent plus one vote to win the election without a runoff.
Saturday’s one-day summit is seen by many as a test of the African group’s willingness, capability, and resolve to sort out Zimbabwe’s election fiasco.
Tendai Biti, secretary-general for the Movement for Democratic Change, said Saturday’s summit presents an opportunity to show the capacity for African institutions to respond objectively and decisively to negative, subjective conditions and situations.
We hope wise counsel will prevail at the end of the day, he said.
A Zambian man in Beitbridge, South Africa, at the border with Zimbabwe, said, Leaders should be honest, should be transparent.
They know what has happened in Zimbabwe. They know the situation in Zimbabwe. They might just come to a place where they give a clear direction to President Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai.
The man, who was not named, said he saw a heavy troop presence as he passed through Harare, but no soldiers in rural towns and villages.
A CNN correspondent in Harare, who cannot be named because CNN is not authorized to report from the country, also saw increased numbers of riot police in the capital. He said the riot police walk around in groups of six or 12, clearly showing their batons.
The correspondent saw riot police being driven around on flatbed trucks wearing full riot gear with shields and helmets. They banged their batons against the metal parts of the truck, producing what the correspondent described as a menacing voice.
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