ZIMBABWE:ZIMBABWE'S MAIN opposition yesterday called for a "major foreign intervention" in the country's post-election crisis after it claimed 10 people had been killed and thousands more displaced by state-sponsored violence since the March 29th poll.
In Johannesburg, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) secretary general, Tendai Biti, told a press conference the situation was now "desperate" with hundreds of opposition supporters detained and hospitalised by government agents.
"Three thousand families have been displaced. Over 400 of our activists have been detained. At least 500 have been hospitalised," Mr Biti said.
The party has also accused the state-appointed Zimbabwe Electoral Commission of facilitating rigging in the recount of 23 constituencies from last month's poll, which began last Saturday.
Official results released by the commission less than a week after the general election showed the combined opposition had won 110 of the country's parliamentary seats to Zanu-PF's 97, thus breaking the grip of president Robert Mugabe and his ruling party on the lower house.
However, Zanu-PF called for and secured a recount in 23 of the 210 constituencies - which is enough to overturn the opposition's slim majority - claiming that "anomalies" had been unearthed in the vote-counting process.
The MDC says its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has also beaten Mr Mugabe in the race for the presidency, but the commission has refused to release the presidential result until it has finalised the partial recount. MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa accused Mr Mugabe's regime of "playing games with the people".
"More than ever before, we are convinced that this regime is playing games with the people. We have information that in some cases ballot boxes were not properly sealed. This is just a circus and we are not going to endorse such a flawed and criminal process," he said.
Deputy chief elections officer Utoile Silaigwana rubbished claims of foul play, but said that while the count was initially expected to take three days, it may now take longer because of delays.
"We had delays when we started yesterday because in some cases the initial consultations took long but the process eventually started.
"In some cases the starting was delayed by the late arrival of polling agents," Mr Silaigwana said.
The partial recount began amid rising tensions over violence, with a leading human rights group charging that Mr Mugabe's henchmen were now rounding up opposition supporters and assaulting them in torture camps.
Mr Biti said the situation was now becoming desperate: "There is a war in Zimbabwe being waged by Mugabe's regime against the people . . . We call for major foreign intervention in Zimbabwe," he said.
While the African Union urged Zimbabwe to release the election results, and UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon said he would discuss with African leaders at a UN summit in Ghana next week "how to get developments there back to normal", there is little indication that current diplomatic efforts are having a positive affect.
On Saturday, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said Zanu-PF was "using a network of informal detention centres to beat, torture and intimidate opposition activists and ordinary Zimbabweans".
Meanwhile, the Chinese-owned cargo ship carrying arms destined for the Zimbabwean military has left Durban port and is said to be heading towards Angola, a country more sympathetic to Mr Mugabe's government, to unload its cargo.
The An Yue Jiang had anchored in deep water off Durban awaiting its unloading slot, but the revelation the military cargo was destined for Zimbabwe prompted dock workers to refuse to unload the seven containers of weapons and munitions.
Human rights groups subsequently petitioned a South African High Court for a block on the arms transportation across the country, which was granted.