Zimbabwe's run-off presidential election next week is very unlikely to be free and fair, a group of southern African ministers said today, in the strongest regional condemnation yet of pre-poll violence.
"There is every sign that these elections will never be free nor fair," Tanzanian Foreign Minister Bernard Membe told a news conference. He was speaking on behalf of a peace and security troika of nations from the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Tanzania is also current chairman of the African Union.
Mr Membe said he and the foreign ministers of Swaziland and Angola would write to their presidents "so that they do something urgently so that we can save Zimbabwe." SADC is sending monitors to Zimbabwe for the June 27th vote.
Mr Membe said their judgement on the conduct of the poll was based on evidence from 211 observers already inside the country.
Some of the observers saw two people shot dead in front of them on June 17th, Mr Membe said.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change said four youths were found dead today after being abducted the day before, bringing to at least 70 the number of party supporters it says have been killed.
A senior Western diplomat in the region, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the bloodshed was spreading.
"It's time really that we moved beyond calling this a campaign of violence. This is terror, plain and simple. This is a terror campaign that the Joint Operations Command has launched weeks ago," the diplomat said.
He added that militias backing President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party were now active in the capital Harare. "The atmosphere is violent. The violence is not abating, indeed it is spreading to areas where it has not historically spread before."
Mr Mugabe is accused by opponents, Western countries and human rights groups of orchestrating a campaign of killings and intimidation to keep his 28-year hold on power in the once prosperous country, its economy now in ruins.
Mr Mugabe lost the first round vote to Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai on March 29th, but the opposition leader fell short of the outright majority needed to avoid a second round, according to official results.
Mr Tsvangirai, said that drawn-out court proceedings against MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti were also designed to hamper his effort to win votes.
A spokesman for Mr Tsvangirai said the government is refusing to issue a new passport to him, citing security reasons. "He is having problems renewing his passport after he exhausted all the pages," Tsvangirai spokesman George Sibotshiwe said. "The application process went well for two days until everything just fell apart, with the officials saying the police had stopped them processing it for security reasons."
He will take legal action to force authorities to issue him a new passport, Mr Sibotshiwe said.
Meanwhile, South African President Thabo Mbeki has urged Mr Mugabe to cancel the run-off and negotiate a deal with the opposition, South Africa's Business Daynewspaper said this morning.
Business Dayquoted unnamed sources as saying that Mr Mbeki tried to set up a meeting between Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai - their first ever - but did not receive a firm commitment from Zimbabwe's president.
It said Mr Mbeki attempted to convince Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai to form a government of national unity. Mr Mbeki made no comment to reporters after the talks.
Business Daysaid that Mr Tsvangirai agreed to meet Mr Mugabe and told Mr Mbeki that any run-off would be a farce.
The MDC said today it had launched an urgent court application to appeal against a state ban on media cover of its campaign. Spokesman George Sibotshiwe said the party had been told by the Zimbabwe Broadcast Corporation and Zimpapers that the state media organisations had been instructed not to accept opposition campaign advertisements or report on the party's campaign.
There was no immediate comment from ZBC or the Zimbabwe Newspapers group.
Mr Mbeki, who has led SADC mediation efforts in Zimbabwe, has been criticised for a quiet diplomatic approach that has failed to end a political and economic crisis driving millions of people into neighbouring states.