By Nelson Banya
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's opposition on Friday called ageneral strike after officials said President Robert Mugabewould snub a regional summit called to discuss rising fears ofbloodshed over delayed election results.
As tension increased over the election deadlock, policeaccused the opposition Movement for Democratic Change of"spoiling for a fight" and of deploying 350 youth wing membersaround the country.
The police banned a Sunday rally by the MDC, which calledan indefinite general strike starting next Tuesday to push forresults from the March 29 election to be released.
State radio said Zimbabwe would be represented by threeministers at the Saturday summit of the Southern AfricanDevelopment Community (SADC), which was expected to pressureMugabe to release the results.
Human rights organisations and the MDC say Mugabe hasunleashed a campaign of systematic violence in response to hisZANU-PF party's first electoral defeat, when it lost control ofparliament in the March 29 election.
The MDC says its leader Morgan Tsvangirai won a parallelpresidential vote, whose results have not been announced, andMugabe's 28-year rule is over.
Tsvangirai told South African national radio from Botswana:"The situation in Zimbabwe is dire. The ... military has arollout plan and is already embarking on intimidation, violenceagainst the people."
Tsvangirai said he would be a "prime target".
The MDC accuses Mugabe of delaying the result so that hecan intimidate opposition supporters before a runoff voteagainst Tsvangirai.
STRIKE
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said the strike "startsTuesday and goes on until the results are out".
Mugabe's decision not to attend the summit was a directsnub to Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, the SADC chairman.
Mwanawasa last year described Zimbabwe as a "sinkingTitanic" before getting back in line behind the body's softapproach to Mugabe.
The absence of Mugabe, 84, from the summit is likely toreduce the chances of any action by SADC, already seen aslargely toothless in face of the Zimbabwe crisis and overawedby the former liberation hero.
State radio said demands for Mugabe to release the resultswere misplaced because that was the prerogative of the ZimbabweElectoral Commission.
Zimbabwean police said all political rallies had beenbanned because officers were too busy guarding ballot boxes ordeployed to prevent post-election violence.
An opposition source said Tsvangirai met President ThaboMbeki of Zimbabwe's powerful neighbour South Africa on Thursdayto discuss the crisis. No details were revealed.
Tsvangirai earlier met ruling African National Congressleader Jacob Zuma, who rivals Mbeki as South Africa's mostpowerful man.
Zuma, abandoning some of Mbeki's trademark "quietdiplomacy" called for the results to be released.
"We urge all parties to respect the will of the people,regardless of the outcome," Zuma said in a speech on Thursday.
The White House said President George W. Bush had phonedAfrican Union chairman and Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikweteto urge swift release of the results.
Bush made a highly successful visit to Tanzania earlierthis year and is close to Kikwete, whose nation is a member ofSADC.
Amnesty International said there were widespread incidentsof post-election violence in Zimbabwe "suggesting the existenceof coordinated retribution against known and suspectedopposition supporters".
Human Rights Watch said the Lusaka meeting was SADC's "lastreal chance" to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe, whose economyis in ruins.
A quarter of the population have fled to escapehyper-inflation of more than 100,000 percent, chronic shortagesof food and fuel and 80 percent unemployment.
(Additional reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe, StellaMapenzauswa, Cris Chinaka, Muchena Zigomo and Paul Simao;writing by Barry Moody; editing by Giles Elgood)
