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TWO WEEKS AFTER Zimbabwe's presidential elections no results have yet been published. The Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangarai claims to have won the elections and is refusing to stand in any run-off. Instead it has called a general strike in protest and demanded that the courts force publication of the results.

It wants today's meeting of the regional South African Development Community (SADC) in Zambia to put pressure on Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party to accept that it was defeated and abandon the gathering repression against its opponents. But Mr Mugabe's decision not to attend the summit and yesterday's ban on demonstrations indicate that the country is poised on the brink of renewed violence.