I'M LOOKING BEYOND YOU. . . Tsvangirai decided to pull outMorgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's opposition leader, has withdrawn from the country's presidential election, saying an escalating campaign of violence by President Robert Mugabe's youths has made a free and fair poll impossible.
"We in the MDC have resolved that we will no longer participate in this violent, illegitimate shame of an election process," said Mr Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change.
Mr Mugabe had "declared war by saying that the bullet has replaced the ballot," Mr Tsvangirai said.
"We believe an election that reflects the will of the people is impossible," he said, appealing to United Nations, African Union and Southern African Development Community to "intervene and stop the genocide".
The MDC and Mr Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in the March 29 election, but according to election officials, failed to win an absolute majority needed to secure the presidency.
A second round ballot was due to be held this Friday, 27 June.
But Mr Mugabe and his militia have waged a campaign of murder, rape and violence against the MDC, which claims 86 of its members and supporters have been killed and 200,000 displaced from their homes.
"We in the MDC cannot ask them (the voters) to cast their vote on June 27, when that vote could cost them their lives," Mr Tsvangirai told a press conference in Harare.
Mr Tsvangirai, who has been arrested while campaigning several times in the past fortnight, only to be released without charge each time, said there was a state-sponsored plot to keep the 84-year-old Mr Mugabe in power.
Mr Patrick Chinamasa, Mr Mugabe's justice minister, denied there was a campaign of violence, claiming Mr Tsvangirai was quitting because he feared losing the run-off poll.
"There's no genocide taking place anywhere, justifying any intervention. He's only saying that to bring foreign intervention in this country," Mr Chinamasa said. "With respect to the reasons he gave for withdrawing, it is not true that it's due to political violence because it is his party that has been instigating violence."
On the legitimacy of Mr Mugabe's apparent victory by default, Mr Chinamasa said: "What legitimacy do you lose when a candidate withdraws, fearing defeat? The situation on the ground is now very supportive of us and Tsvangirai knows he faces certain defeat.
"He spent a lot of time outside the country talking to people who do not vote. Tsvangirai must write formally to ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) advising that he is withdrawing from the race, in which event there will be one candidate, meaning there will not be a poll. If he doesn't, the poll will take place."
There has also been a campaign to target MDC officials and their families.Mr Tendai Biti, a top MDC Secretary General and lieutenant to Mr Tsvangirai, is in custody on a treason charge and other offences that carry a possible death penalty. A magistrate has ordered him held until at least July 7.
Mr Mugabe, who has ruled since Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain in 1980, has repeatedly vowed never to turn over power to the opposition, which he brands a puppet of Britain and the United States.
On Friday, he warned that "only God" could remove him from office and said the MDC would never rule Zimbabwe. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
"We in the MDC have resolved that we will no longer participate in this violent, illegitimate shame of an election process," said Mr Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change.
Mr Mugabe had "declared war by saying that the bullet has replaced the ballot," Mr Tsvangirai said.
"We believe an election that reflects the will of the people is impossible," he said, appealing to United Nations, African Union and Southern African Development Community to "intervene and stop the genocide".
The MDC and Mr Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in the March 29 election, but according to election officials, failed to win an absolute majority needed to secure the presidency.
A second round ballot was due to be held this Friday, 27 June.
But Mr Mugabe and his militia have waged a campaign of murder, rape and violence against the MDC, which claims 86 of its members and supporters have been killed and 200,000 displaced from their homes.
"We in the MDC cannot ask them (the voters) to cast their vote on June 27, when that vote could cost them their lives," Mr Tsvangirai told a press conference in Harare.
Mr Tsvangirai, who has been arrested while campaigning several times in the past fortnight, only to be released without charge each time, said there was a state-sponsored plot to keep the 84-year-old Mr Mugabe in power.
Mr Patrick Chinamasa, Mr Mugabe's justice minister, denied there was a campaign of violence, claiming Mr Tsvangirai was quitting because he feared losing the run-off poll.
"There's no genocide taking place anywhere, justifying any intervention. He's only saying that to bring foreign intervention in this country," Mr Chinamasa said. "With respect to the reasons he gave for withdrawing, it is not true that it's due to political violence because it is his party that has been instigating violence."
On the legitimacy of Mr Mugabe's apparent victory by default, Mr Chinamasa said: "What legitimacy do you lose when a candidate withdraws, fearing defeat? The situation on the ground is now very supportive of us and Tsvangirai knows he faces certain defeat.
"He spent a lot of time outside the country talking to people who do not vote. Tsvangirai must write formally to ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) advising that he is withdrawing from the race, in which event there will be one candidate, meaning there will not be a poll. If he doesn't, the poll will take place."
There has also been a campaign to target MDC officials and their families.Mr Tendai Biti, a top MDC Secretary General and lieutenant to Mr Tsvangirai, is in custody on a treason charge and other offences that carry a possible death penalty. A magistrate has ordered him held until at least July 7.
Mr Mugabe, who has ruled since Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain in 1980, has repeatedly vowed never to turn over power to the opposition, which he brands a puppet of Britain and the United States.
On Friday, he warned that "only God" could remove him from office and said the MDC would never rule Zimbabwe. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
