By MacDonald Dzirutwe
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's opposition leader MorganTsvangirai rejected calls on Tuesday for a national unitygovernment instead of a presidential runoff vote and said hisparty was sure to win the election despite government violence.
Tsvangirai told a news conference Zimbabwe had suffered ade facto coup and was being run by a military junta.
Some 66 supporters of his Movement for Democratic Change(MDC) had been killed since disputed March elections, he said.
Simba Makoni, a defector from the ruling ZANU-PF party anda former finance minister, said earlier the June 27 run-offbetween President Robert Mugabe and Tsvangirai must be calledoff because a free and fair vote was impossible.
"Following the announcement of the date for the run-off, noone can change that due process unless Robert Mugabe concedesdefeat, or collapses. It therefore means that a government ofnational unity negotiated before the runoff does not arise,"Tsvangirai said.
U.S. Secretary of State Rice was consulting other countriesto see what practical steps could be taken by the internationalcommunity to ensure a real runoff election.
"We're continuing to focus on trying to make this runoffelection one that can be as free and fair as possible, thatwill reflect the will of the Zimbabwean people. Whether or notthat can happen is an open question," U.S. State Departmentspokesman Sean McCormack added.
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
U.S.-based Human Rights Watch also said brutal intimidationand murder by Mugabe's supporters made normal campaigningimpossible.
"As a people we have been exposed to state-sponsoredbrutality. The violence continues unabated," Tsvangirai said.
He said 3,000 MDC supporters had been injured and more than25,000 displaced but the MDC would win even if ZANU-PFprevented them campaigning.
"As far as I am concerned I can stay home from now on untilthe election, Mugabe will lose. It's just a formality to go andcampaign, the people have already decided."
An EU-U.S. summit in Slovenia on Tuesday called on theZimbabwe government to end what it called state-sponsoredviolence and urged U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to sendmonitors to deter further violence.
Makoni, who challenged Mugabe in disputed March 29elections, told reporters in Johannesburg that Tsvangirai mustnegotiate a five-year transitional government.
"Normal political conduct and behaviour is not possible inthe circumstances within Zimbabwe at the moment. I don'tbelieve we can have free elections under these circumstances,that's why we are suggesting that the run-off will not place,"he said.
Makoni came a distant third in the March election in whichTsvangirai beat Mugabe but failed to reach the absolutemajority needed to avoid a second round.
South Africa's Business Day newspaper reported on TuesdayZANU-PF and MDC were in talks that could lead to thecancellation of the poll.
UNITY GOVERNMENT UNLIKELY
Lovemore Madhuku, chairman of Zimbabwean political pressuregroup National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), said a governmentof national unity was unlikely in the short term.
"I know that a lot of people are talking about that, but Idon't see that happening in the coming months because of thepolarisation between ZANU-PF and the MDC," he told Reuters.
Human Rights Watch said on Monday a free and fair poll wasimpossible because of a systematic campaign of murder andtorture unleashed by ZANU-PF in which at least 36 people haddied. Mugabe blames his foes for the bloodshed.
Jacob Zuma, leader of the ruling party in Zimbabwe'spowerful neighbour South Africa, said during a tour of India onTuesday that he was alarmed and anxious about the reports ofviolence and called on ZANU-PF to ensure free campaigning.
Business Day, quoting negotiators for both sides, saidZANU-PF and the MDC were in talks mediated by South AfricanPresident Thabo Mbeki.
Mbeki spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga said he was unaware ofthe talks.
Zuma, who has been outspoken about the Zimbabwe crisis, isfrontrunner to succeed Mbeki next year after toppling him asleader of the ruling African National Congress (ANC). Mbeki hasbeen widely criticised for his softly softly approach toMugabe.
In a statement, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said twolawyers had been forced to flee to South Africa and a third hadgone into hiding over threats to their lives for handling casesinvolving opposition officials and activists.
"In recent weeks, the operating environment for members ofthe legal profession, more particularly human rights lawyers,has shrunk to the extent that it is becoming almost impossiblefor them, as officers of the court, to perform theirprofessional duties and functions," it said.
(Additional reporting by Cris Chinaka in Harare and EmeliaSithole-Matarise in Johannesburg; Writing by Marius Bosch;Editing by Stephen Weeks)
