Zimbabwe: Mugabe's nemesis threatens choas

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwe's opposition leader is planning to make Zimbabwe "ungovernable" in the aftermath of an election that returned Robert Mugabe to power after a brutal campaign of violence against opposition supporters that drew condemnation from around the world.

Morgan Tsvangirai said in an interview with The Globe and Mail that he is drawing up the details of his campaign and called on the international community not to recognize Mugabe's inauguration as president, as the country's months-long political crisis looked set to deepen.

Tsvangirai, the head of the Movement for Democratic Change, said he is still open to negotiations with Mugabe's regime about forming a national unity government, but said the negotiations had to be conducted on the basis that the March 29 first round of the elections -- in which Tsvangirai won the largest share of the vote -- were the last legitimate ballot held.

Tsvangirai withdrew ahead of last week's runoff, saying it was impossible to hold a free and fair vote amid a campaign of government-orchestrated violence that saw at least 86 of his supporters murdered. Another 200,000 people were forced to flee their homes, according to MDC estimates.

"We won the election in March. That is the basis for the way forward," he said in a telephone interview from inside the Dutch embassy in Harare, where he has sought refuge since early last week, citing unnamed threats to his life. "This regime has been disowned by its people."

The election was dismissed ahead of time as undemocratic by the United Nations, the Southern Africa Development Community and other international bodies.

The opposition leader said he expected an African Union summit that was to open Monday in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh would affirm that the March vote -- in which the MDC also won control of parliament -- would be the basis for any talks between the opposition and the ruling ZANU-PF party.

If Mugabe does not agree to those terms, Tsvangirai said, his supporters will take unspecified "democratic actions." The nature of those actions was still being decided, he said, adding that options could include strikes or mass demonstrations.

Despite the violence -- which is believed to have cowed many MDC backers into casting their ballots for Mugabe on Friday -- Tsvangirai said he believed his backers would still respond to any call he made for a strike or other non-violent action.

"We're proceeding based on a strategy of applying political pressure on the regime and making (Zimbabwe) ungovernable," the 56-year-old former union boss said, his voice slurred with exhaustion. "People have been beaten down into a climate of fear, but we feel we will be able to mobilize those who are willing."

Ignoring a storm of international protest, Mugabe swore himself in as president Sunday, just hours after it was announced that he had received 85.5 percent of the vote in Friday's one-man election. The result was hardly surprising, given that many voters reported that they had been given numbered ballots and threatened with more violence unless it was confirmed that they had cast their vote for the incumbent.

The speed with which the ballots were counted in Zimbabwe over the weekend was in sharp contrast to the five-week delay that followed the March vote before it was finally announced that Tsvangirai had outpolled Mugabe, though he had failed to cross the 50-percent-plus-one threshold needed to avert the second-round runoff.

After the brief and subdued swearing-in ceremony, Mugabe called for talks, something the opposition said cannot happen unless he agrees to relinquish the presidency.

"There is a growing chorus among African leaders that the March elections must be the basis for negotiations," Tsvangirai said in the interview.

He turned down an invitation to attend the swearing-in, and his party issued a statement calling the ceremony "an absolute joke."

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)