mugabe rolls out the military

From sbs.com


Mugabe accused of 'de facto coup'
Thursday, 10 April, 2008

Mugabe's ZANU-PF party has lost control of Zimbabwe's parliament (AAP)

Robert Mugabe has deployed troops across Zimbabwe to intimidate people ahead of a presidential run-off in a "de facto military coup", his rival Morgan Tsvangirai says.

"The military leaders in the establishment are trying to subvert the will of the people," opposition leader Mr Tsvangirai told Time magazine.

"This is, in a sense, a de facto military coup. They have rolled out military forces across the whole country, to prepare for a run-off and try to cow the population. It's an attempt to try to create conditions for Mugabe to win," he said.

Mr Tsvangirai's allegations came as a judge hearing an opposition petition demanding the immediate release of Zimbabwe's presidential election results announced he would rule on the case on Monday.

"I have heard the parties since Saturday and I need to go over the statute that has been referred to. I also need to digest the submissions by both counsels," said Justice Tendai Uchena.

"Conscious of the urgency of the matter, I should be ready for a judgment on Monday afternoon."

Voting 'irregularities'

Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change claims he secured enough votes in the march 29 poll to claim outright victory.

But ZANU-PF, the party of president Robert Mugabe, has said a run-off - which by law should be held by April 19 - will be needed to decide who takes power.

The delay in releasing the presidential results has led to widespread opposition accusations that it is part of a ploy to buy Robert Mugabe - who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980 - more time to cook up a victory.

Despite the lack of an official result, Mr Mugabe's party has already demanded a recount of the whole election saying it has uncovered a series of anomalies.

The commission announced the results of a simultaneous parliamentary election nearly a week ago, showing Mugabe's ZANU-PF party had lost its majority to the opposition for the first time.

Emergency summit

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, the current chair of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community, is to host an emergency meeting on the Zimbabwean crisis at the weekend.

"Given developments immediately following the elections, I have decided as chair of SADC to call for an extraordinary summit on Saturday 12 April to discuss ways and means of assisting the people of Zimbabwe," he said.

The aim of the summit would be to try and break "the current impasse as well as adopt a coordinated approach to the situation in that country," Mr Mwanawasa said.

The Zambian president has been one of the few regional leaders to publicly voice his concerns about the situation in Zimbabwe, comparing the plight of the country's economy to the sinking of the Titanic.

The former British colony now has a six-figure inflation rate, unemployment is beyond 80 per cent ,while average life expectancy stands at just 37 years.