Zimbabwe police set up checkpoints ahead of strike
HARARE (Reuters) - Soldiers and police fanned out acrossZimbabwe on Tuesday ahead of a general strike called by theopposition to pressure officials to release the results of apresidential election.
Army trucks, some equipped with water cannons, movedthrough opposition strongholds around the capital Harare andriot police and other officers set up checkpoints.
"This is a routine security exercise," one police officersaid at a checkpoint in a township controlled by the oppositionMovement for Democratic Change (MDC), which has called onZimbabweans to stay at home indefinitely.
Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC has declared victory in the March29 parliamentary and presidential elections and has demandedthat President Robert Mugabe step down. Parliamentary resultshave been released but the results of the presidential pollhave not.
Zimbabwe's electoral commission said it was still countingand verifying the votes.
On Monday, a Zimbabwean High Court rejected the MDC's bidto force authorities to release the results.
The MDC said one of its supporters was stabbed to death bymembers of Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party. Police disputed that,saying the killing did not appear to be politically motivated.
Tsvangirai and his supporters are hoping that Zimbabweanswill support the general strike. But there are concerns itcould fizzle as others have in the past or wither in the faceof the unspoken threat of a police crackdown.
"The Zimbabwe Republic Police has noted with concern thedistribution of subversive fliers and pamphlets by the MDCTsvangirai faction urging for an indefinite stay-away ... wefind the call by the MDC Tsvangirai faction as agitating forviolence," police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said.
Mugabe's police beat dozens of MDC members and supporters,including Tsvangirai, during an aborted 2007 anti-governmentprotest. A general strike last year to protest wages and livingconditions also collapsed.
Zimbabweans are facing inflation of more than 100,000percent, an unemployment rate of 80 percent and rising povertyand malnutrition. There are chronic shortages of food, fuel andhard currency throughout the country.
POLITICAL STALEMATE
The opposition has accused Mugabe's ZANU-PF of workingbehind the scenes to delay the announcement of the presidentialresults to give them time to organise a violent response totheir biggest electoral setback since coming to power in 1980.
Official results show ZANU-PF lost control of parliament onMarch 29, and independent observers have said that Tsvangiraioutpolled the 84-year-old veteran leader but did not win enoughvotes to avoid a second-ballot run-off.
The stalemate has stoked international fears of violence inZimbabwe. Britain and the United States have called for thespeedy release of the results and warned Mugabe's governmentnot to intimidate opponents.
Southern African leaders said after a summit in Lusaka atthe weekend that the results should be released"expeditiously".
But further delays are expected because of legal manoeuvresand a recount in constituencies ordered by election officialsfor next Saturday. The MDC is challenging that decision.
The MDC also filed an application on Monday asking theelectoral court to set aside results in about 60 parliamentaryseats won by ZANU-PF. The move came after ZANU-PF launched itschallenge of results in about two dozen seats won by the MDC.
The MDC accuses ZANU-PF of vote-buying, intimidating andinterfering with presiding election officers and othermalpractices. ZANU-PF has accused the MDC of similar electionwrongdoing.
(Additional reporting by Muchena Zigomo, Nelson Banya, CrisChinaka; Writing by Paul Simao; Editing by Elizabeth Piper)