UNITED NATIONS:The UN Security Council met yesterday for its first session on Zimbabwe's election stand-off in a sign of growing international impatience with President Robert Mugabe.
Checking of votes from the March 29th presidential poll was put off again yesterday, further delaying the day when the world will know if Mr Mugabe is to remain in power in a once-prosperous country that is now in economic meltdown.
Some 200 opposition supporters arrested during a police raid on the headquarters of the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), late last week, were freed yesterday after the high court ordered their release.
France's UN ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert said before the security council meeting that the fact it was being held at all would send a signal to Zimbabwe's authorities "that we are looking very carefully at what they are doing". The situation in Zimbabwe was developing "not in a good direction", he said.
"The people of Zimbabwe have expressed themselves . . . We think at least the government of President Mugabe should recognise that by publishing the result of the election and accepting the result of the election."
Diplomats have said South Africa, which currently holds the security council presidency, was reluctant to have it take up the issue of Zimbabwe, which President Thabo Mbeki has said should be resolved through quiet diplomacy. Several council members successfully pressed last week for a briefing by the UN secretariat.
Mr Ripert did not rule out that eventually the UN could become directly involved but said African mediation should come first.
In Washington, US president George Bush said: "The will of the people needs to be respected in Zimbabwe, and it is clear that they voted for change as they should have because Mr Mugabe has failed the country."
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai says he won the presidential election outright and there is no need for a run-off, but independent and ruling party projections pointed to a second round to decide who won. UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said yesterday it was clear Mr Tsvangirai had won.
Zimbabwe's UN ambassador suggested both sides would need to come up with a powersharing deal in a national unity government. "There is no way anybody can do without the other," Boniface Chidyausiku told the BBC.
A win for Mr Mugabe, whose ruling Zanu-PF party lost control of parliament in the election, would deepen the economic collapse of the once-prosperous country, political analysts say.
But western powers are likely to pour in aid and investment if victory goes to Mr Tsvangirai, the analysts say.
In the stand-off over the presidential election result, the opposition has accused Mr Mugabe of intimidating opponents in the hope of swinging a possible run-off against Mr Tsvangirai.
Thousands of people have fled their homes and the MDC says more than 15 of its supporters have been killed by Zanu-PF militants. The ruling party denies this.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission invited presidential candidates and their agents to verify results from May 1st. The process, which had been due to start yesterday, could still take another week before a result can be made public. - (Reuters)