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| MDC says Tsvangirai will not stand in run-off
But the MDC announced Thursday Tsvangirai would not stand if Mugabe does try to declare another vote. "We won the presidential election hands down, without the need for a run-off," MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti said. Zimbabwe's electoral commission has still not announced the results 12 days since the election. The country's High Court will rule on Monday if it should be compelled to do so. But with no resolution in sight, the emergency summit was called by Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa. Zimbabwean information minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said the meeting was not necessary. "There is no crisis in Zimbabwe that warrants a special meeting on Zimbabwe," he said. Deputy information minister Bright Matonga confirmed Mugabe would attend the meeting. "If there is a meeting of heads of state, then obviously he will attend," he said. Tsvangirai will also attend the summit, said an MDC spokesman. "He is a head of state himself as well," he said, reiterating the opposition's insistence that Tsvangirai won the election. Tsvangirai, seeking support in southern Africa, headed to South Africa on Thursday to meet President Thabo Mbeki. He will go to Zambia on Friday in advance of the summit. Mugabe has virtually conceded he did not win the election and appears to be campaigning for a run-off by intimidating his foes and fanning racial tensions. Biti accused him of deploying senior army and police officials across the country to "oversee the reversal process". Zimbabwe's Commercial Farmers' Union accused ruling party supporters of forcing dozens of white farmers off their land and ransacking their homes. Farmers warned that continued chaos could endanger the wheat crop, vital to a nation that has grown deeply dependent on food aid. Meanwhile, the trial
continued for a Briton and an American arrested for allegedly reporting
on the election without proper accreditation. The two were released
on bail on Monday but their passports are being held and they have not
been allowed to leave the country.-AP |
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