African Leaders Call for Free and Fair Presidential Election in Zimbabwe

In an effort to end the violence that has preceded the presidential run-off election in Zimbabwe more than 40 prominent African leaders have signed and published a letter that has called for the election to proceed in a free and fair manner.

Current president Robert Mugabe has been accused of using intimidation and violence ahead of the June 27 vote to keep his seat, a position he has held for Zimbabwe’s 28 years of independence.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has accused Mugabe of encouraging his Zanu-PF party members as well as the country’s military to carry out violent acts against his Movement for Democratic Change supporters.

Tsvangirai, as well as many officials in the MDC, have been jailed by police during the campaign; a move that Tsvangirai insists has been done to disrupt his campaign.

Tsvangirai has said he garnered a majority of votes in the March 29 election but official results showed he did not secure a majority, forcing a run-off.

Mugabe has said Tsvangirai would return Zimbabwe to “our former oppressors, the whites” and declared war veterans would take up arms to prevent that from happening.

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