World News Story

08 January 2009 21:34 BST

Africa pressure grows on Mugabe

Robert Mugabe is facing growing pressure from fellow leaders in Africa to call off this Friday's presidential run-off.

The Zimbabwean president has vowed to go ahead with the vote, despite opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai pulling out.

On Tuesday the African National Congress (ANC) added its voice to international condemnation of the government's campaign of violence and intimidation to deter Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) voters.

The leader of South Africa's ruling party, Jacob Zuma, said he was "deeply dismayed" by the actions of Mr Mugabe's government.

He accused Mr Mugabe and the militias of his Zanu-PF party of "riding roughshod over hard-won democratic rights".

Meanwhile in Senegal the country's president Abdoulaye Wade demanded Friday's vote be postponed.

Mr Tsvangirai has spent the last day in the confines of the Dutch embassy in Harare after being tipped off soldiers were about to enter his house.

Speaking on Tuesday the MDC leader said he would continue to seek refuge for at least the next 48 hours.

His party also formally confirmed its leader had withdrawn from Friday's vote.

Earlier the United Nations security council united to condemn violence targeted at the opposition in Zimbabwe last night.

China and South Africa were among the nations backing the statement criticising the "campaign of violence" against the MDC ahead of a scheduled June 27th runoff vote.

"The security council regrets that the campaign of violence and the restrictions on the political opposition have made it impossible for a free and fair election to take place on June 27th," the statement, read by Washington's UN ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, said.

"The council further considers that, to be legitimate, any government of Zimbabwe must take account of the interests of all its citizens. The council notes that the results of the March 29th 2008 elections must be respected."

That vote saw incumbent president Mr Mugabe finish in second place to Mr Tsvangirai, who pulled out of the second-round vote on Sunday. He is currently believed to be seeking refuge in the Dutch embassy.

The security council is worried by the impact of the situation on the wider region and is critical of Zimbabwe's "grave humanitarian situation". It "condemns" Mr Mugabe's decision to suspend the operations of humanitarian organisations.

"[It] further condemns the actions of the government of Zimbabwe that have denied its political opponents the right to campaign freely, and calls upon the government of Zimbabwe to stop the violence, to cease political intimidation, to end the restrictions on the right of assembly and to release the political leaders who have been detained," it adds.

Yesterday UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon described Mr Tsvangirai's decision to withdraw from the June 27th vote as "understandable" and said there had been "too much violence, too much intimidation" in Zimbabwe.