By MacDonald Dzirutwe
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's army will not fightZimbabweans over election results, the information ministersaid on Sunday, responding to opposition charges that PresidentRobert Mugabe had staged a de facto coup to extend his rule.
A two-week delay in releasing the results from Zimbabwe'sMarch 29 presidential election has raised fears of violence inthe southern African nation, where the economy has collapsed.
"The soldiers are in the barracks where they belong becausethe country does not fully require their services in such apeaceful environment. I believe everyone in the country isaware that there is no military junta," Zimbabwe's Sunday Mailquoted Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu as saying.
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader MorganTsvangirai has accused Mugabe's ZANU-PF of rolling out militaryforces across Zimbabwe to try to find his way out of thebiggest challenge to his rule since independence in 1980.
ZANU-PF says neither Mugabe nor MDC leader MorganTsvangirai won the necessary absolute majority and a run-offwill be necessary. But the MDC says Tsvangirai has won outrightand that Mugabe's 28-year rule is over.
Southern African leaders called on Sunday for the rapidrelease of the election results.
Zambian Foreign Minister Kabinga Pande told reporters a13-hour summit in Lusaka had also called Mugabe to ensure thata possible run-off vote against Tsvangirai be held "in a secureenvironment".
The 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC)"urged the electoral authorities in Zimbabwe that verificationand release of results are expeditiously done in accordancewith the due process of law", said Pande.
An electoral official said 23 constituencies in theelection would be recounted next Saturday, raising newuncertainty over the vote and the possibility that ZANU-PFcould overturn its defeat in the parliamentary poll.
(Additional reporting by Shapi Shacinda and Serena Chaudhryin Lusaka, and Cris Chinaka, Nelson Banya, Stella Mapenzauswa,and Muchena Zigomo; Editing by Sami Aboudi)
