Africa 'damaged' by Mugabe poll

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- African leaders are damaging their reputations by endorsing President Robert Mugabe's election victory, Zimbabwe's opposition has said.

Morgan Tsvangirai, who won 42 percent of the vote compared to Mugabe's 57 percent in last weekend's election, accused African countries of losing their "integrity" by supporting a result which he said was "daylight robbery."

Several African presidents, including Kenya's Daniel arap Moi and Tanzania's Benjamin Mkapa, as well as the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) have warmly congratulated Mugabe for Wednesday's victory.

Other leaders to have deemed the election "legitimate" are South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki in addition to Nigeria and Namibia.

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"In my view what the African brothers are doing is to undermine their integrity and their credibility in the face of the world," Tsvangirai told Reuters at his Harare home on Friday.

He singled out the economic powerhouse of the region, South Africa, for particular criticism.

Tsvangirai said he had hoped it would be an honest broker in helping resolve the political crisis.

"The crisis has not gone away, it has deepened," he said. "It is unfortunate that South Africa will get its credibility put into question."

His disappointment was increased when Mbeki's deputy president, Jacob Zuma, went further and said his country's observers had also judged the elections as having been free and fair -- something they pointedly did not say -- during a meeting with Mugabe on Thursday.

Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade gave a rare note of African concern.

He said: "From what I know, these elections do not conform to the norms that I would expect for elections."

But he added that "he would not be in a position now to know if they should be considered invalid."

The African response is in stark contrast to Western countries which have accused the elections of being held in an atmosphere of fear, intimidation and violence.

It continues to pile pressure on Mugabe's regime. The 15-member European Union is expected to issue a communique from its summit in Barcelona on Saturday, and they could extend the sanctions already in place.

A tripartite Commonwealth group, consisting of Mbeki, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and Australian Prime Minister John Howard are due to discuss whether to take action during a meeting in London on Tuesday. (Full story)

Despite Nigeria and South Africa's individual support for the poll, the Commonwealth's 61-member observer group issued a scathing condemnation of the election, saying it did not reflect the will of the people and was held in a climate of fear.

The Zimbabwe issue also caused a split along racial lines at a Commonwealth summit earlier this month.

The worst the Commonwealth could do would be to suspend Zimbabwe, but its rejection of the election could seriously affect access to the foreign aid desperately needed to lift the country out of deep recession.

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said the Commonwealth, a 54-nation group of mainly ex-British colonies, would lose all credibility if it did not suspend Zimbabwe.

Reflecting Western dismay at apparent African solidarity with Mugabe, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said: "I hope very much he is coming under the most intense pressure from the people who have the greatest ability to put him under pressure, namely his African neighbours."

Mugabe's government has said the vote was free and fair, adding it is a mandate to pursue its controversial land reform programme.

Mugabe has remained silent since the election, but officials say he will be sworn in for another six year term on Sunday. He has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980.

Moves by Mbeki to try and persuade Mugabe to invite Tsvangirai into a government of national unity have been rejected by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Tsvangirai said: "We will not be party to any Caesarian operation by South Africa. We are not going to have short-cuts...and force issues on Zimbabweans."