ZIMBABWE:HOPES THAT Zimbabwe's electoral crisis could be resolved peacefully began to fade yesterday amid reports of widespread violence against people opposed to the ruling regime.
At least 60 of the country's remaining 200 white farmers and their families have been forced to flee rural farms over the past few days by militias loyal to President Robert Mugabe and his ruling Zanu-PF party.
Dozens of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) supporters and followers of independent Simba Makoni have also allegedly been assaulted around the country.
MDC general secretary Tendai Biti told The Irish Times: "Many of our supporters in rural areas are now being assaulted by people loyal to Zanu-PF. We are sure they are punishing people for voting for the opposition."
"Militias are being rearmed, Zanu-PF supporters are being rearmed . . . The long and short of it is that there has been a complete militarisation of Zimbabwean society since the 29th of March," he told a press conference.
The country has been left in limbo since the general election because the electoral body, the Zimbabwe Election Commission, is still refusing to release the results of the presidential poll.
In an attempt to force the ZEC to release its official result the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change took the issue to the high court on Saturday.
The party insists its leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the presidential election when he secured - according to its tallies - more than the 50 per cent plus one vote needed for outright victory.
After yesterday persuading Justice Tendai Uchena that their demand for the immediate release of the result should be considered urgently, the MDC's chief counsel argued that any further hold-up would be unreasonable.
"There is nothing preventing them [ the electoral commission] from announcing the results, which they must announce," lawyer Alec Muchadehama told the Harare court.
The ZEC blames technical difficulties for the delays, but many observers believe the regime is forcing it to withhold the result so it can plan a way forward for Mr Mugabe in the event of a second round head-to-head run-off.
Meanwhile, African Union (AU) leaders have been unable to contact Mr Mugabe, raising fears that he has decided to forgo the opportunity to secure a negotiated settlement to the crisis.
The European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said yesterday the AU's president, Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete, had expressed deep concern over Mr Mugabe's silence. "All the efforts that have been made have been a failure," Mr Solana told the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee in Brussels.
However, another sign that Mr Mugabe's iron grip on power has weakened emerged yesterday when a faction of war veterans who have always been steadfastly loyal broke ranks with the ruling regime. The Zimbabwe Liberation Veterans' Forum, which claims to represent 60 per cent of the "genuine" war veterans, told local reporters it was ready to "side with the people" against Mr Mugabe. The dictator also lost control of parliament last week when it was announced that a combined opposition had won 110 seats to Zanu-PF's 97.
Over the last 10 years Mr Mugabe's leadership has transformed Zimbabwe from the breadbasket of Africa into one of its economic basket cases: inflation is well over 100,000 per cent and the unemployment rate hovers at about 80 per cent.
