Emergency summit to discuss Zimbabwe

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (CNN) -- Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and the main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, are due at this weekend's emergency summit of southern African leaders, summoned by the president of neighboring Zambia, to discuss the electoral and political crisis, spokesmen for the two men said.

Preparations for the summit came as Zimbabwe's main opposition party claimed victory Thursday for Tsvangirai in last month's disputed presidential election and ruled out taking part in a runoff vote against Mugabe.

The secretary-general of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, Tendai Biti, warned that the opposition would not accept a second round of voting.

"Morgan Tsvangirai won this election without the need for a runoff, and we will not accept any other result except one that confirms that we won this election," The Associated Press quoted him as saying.

Zimbabwe has not released the official results from the March 29 presidential election. The Movement for Democratic Change has petitioned Zimbabwe's High Court to force the electoral commission to release the results, but the effort has stalled at nearly every turn.

Zimbabwe is under international pressure to release the results amid concerns of heightened political tensions.

The state-run newspaper, The Herald, has indicated that neither Mugabe nor Tsvangirai received enough votes in the election to avoid a runoff. A candidate must receive 50 percent plus one vote to win the election without a runoff.
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Diplomatic sources inside and outside the country say they believe that Mugabe's government has dispatched more than 200 militia members throughout the country to carefully control any new round of voting. Some of the militias, loyal to Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party, have been seen in small huddles of four or five, wearing civilian clothing.

The sources say they are not hopeful for a quick resolution to Zimbabwe's political crisis and are looking to other southern African nations to exert influence on the government in Harare.

The election is the most formidable challenge to Mugabe's 28-year rule, and Tsvangirai has said Mugabe may use the delay in announcing the results -- as well as the possible runoff -- to find ways to cling to power.

Zimbabwean Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu confirmed Thursday that Mugabe would attend a one-day summit in Zambia sponsored by the 15-member Southern African Development Community.

Zambian President and SADC Chairman Levy Mwanawasa called for the "extraordinary summit" on Wednesday "to discuss ways and means of assisting the people of Zimbabwe with the current impasse, as well as adopt a coordinated approach to the situation in that country." E-mail to a friend

CNN's Nkepile Mabuse in Johannesburg contributed to this report.

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