/ 2 May 2008

US urges Mugabe to ‘call off his dogs’

The United States on Thursday urged Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to "call off his dogs" who are allegedly attacking opposition supporters and to release the presidential election results. State Department deputy spokesperson Tom Casey questioned how credible the results of the March 29 election could be when they have yet to be released.

The United States on Thursday urged Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to “call off his dogs” who are allegedly attacking opposition supporters and to release the presidential election results.

In a daily briefing, State Department deputy spokesperson Tom Casey questioned how credible the results of the March 29 election could be when they have yet to be released and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai claims victory.

“There’s been an absolutely unconscionable and inexplicable delay in the process of releasing votes. And at this point, I think whatever those results show, they’re probably going to have limited credibility,” he told reporters.

He also said he believed it would be “almost be impossible to hold” a fair run-off election “given the current campaign of state-orchestrated violence and intimidation” against the opposition in particular and Zimbabweans in general.

“So, we want to see the government of Zimbabwe stop the violence. We want to see results come out that actually reflect what people did on election day, as opposed to what people have done since that time,” Casey said.

Asked if Mugabe should quit for Zimbabwe’s good, Casey stressed he should stop attacks on Zimbabweans.

“First of all, what we need to have happen is to have President Mugabe call off his dogs and cease his security services and his supporters’ attacks on those who are simply trying to express their views peacefully,” he said.

“I don’t think it’s for us to determine who should be the president of Zimbabwe. It’s up to the Zimbabwean people,” he added.

Zimbabwe election officials and the opposition locked horns on Thursday over the outcome of the presidential poll.

Election officials told all-party talks designed to reach agreement on the voting figures that Tsvangirai had won 47,8% and Mugabe had won 43,2%, according to several sources in the meeting.

But the Movement for Democratic Change party (MDC) in turn presented its own figures claiming Tsvangirai had won 50,3%, just scraping past the threshold needed to avoid a second round run-off, the sources added.

Although the talks were due to resume at 7am GMT on Friday, the disagreement paves the way for yet further delays to the final results of the vote. – AFP