I won't recognise Mugabe win, says opposition leader

Published on Wednesday 11 June 2008 01:33

ZIMBABWE'S opposition leader said yesterday he would not recognise a win by President Robert Mugabe in this month's run-off poll.

"The illegitimacy of this regime will be confirmed if Mugabe declares himself the winner," Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), told reporters in Harare.

He said Zimbabwe was effectively being run by a "military junta" bent on returning 84-year-old Mugabe to power.

The president lost the first round of presidential elections on 29 March to Mr Tsvangirai, a former trade unionist.

When the results were announced, police and militias launched a reign of terror in Zimbabwe's rural areas, targeting villagers who dared to vote against the president.

The MDC says 60 of its supporters have been killed and more than 200 are missing.

Mr Tsvangirai said he would still take part in the 27 June run-off. He added: "Despite the conditions, the MDC is focused and has developed counter-strategies. I have been encouraged by people's desire to finish what we have started."

His comments – likely to further inflame Mugabe – came as authorities said they were clearing jails to make room for a wave of expected arrests.

The justice minister, Patrick Chinamasa, said there would be amnesties for some prisoners "to create space for those convicted of political violence".

The wife of an MDC chairman in Mhondoro was reported killed on Saturday. The wife and young son of an MDC official in Harare South have also been reported killed.

The tensions have sent the Zimbabwe dollar into freefall. Several stores in Harare and the eastern city of Mutare stopped trading yesterday as the dollar plummeted to between 4 and 8 billion to the pound, from 2 billion at the end of last week.

Bread shot above 1 billion dollars a loaf, a third of a cleaner's monthly salary.