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 southern African 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 hisruling ZANU-PF party's first electoral defeat, when it lostcontrol of parliament in the March 29 election.
The MDC says its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, won a parallelpresidential vote, whose results have not been announced, andhave called on Mugabe to end his 28-year rule.
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'srelatively soft approach to Mugabe, who is still seen as aliberation-era hero to many Africans.
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 Zimbabwean leader.
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 African National Congress leaderJacob Zuma, who 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.
The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, an alliance of 300 civicgroups, warned that there was a growing threat of violence thatwould lead to mass atrocities in Zimbabwe if African leaderssat on their hands.
"If SADC leaders do not want blood on their hands, theymust take action this weekend," coalition chairman ArnoldTsunga said in a statement.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch also haveexpressed concerns about the prospect of post-electionviolence.
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)
