By Nelson Banya
HARARE (Reuters) - Britain and the United States urgedZimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Monday to allowinternational monitors to ensure a free and fair run-offelection in the southern African country.
Referring to what he called Mugabe's "increasinglydesperate and criminal regime", British Prime Minister GordonBrown said Mugabe should not be allowed to "steal theelection".
Zimbabwe holds a run-off presidential vote on June 27 andthe opposition and rights groups accuse Mugabe's supporters ofa campaign of violence to try to ensure he keeps his 28-yearhold on power in a country suffering economic collapse.
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader MorganTsvangirai won the first poll in March but without enough votesfor an outright victory, official results show.
"In recent weeks, under Robert Mugabe's increasinglydesperate and criminal regime, Zimbabwe has seen 53 killings,2,000 beatings, the displacement of 30,000 people, the arrestand detention of opposition leaders including MorganTsvangirai," Brown told a joint news conference after talkswith U.S. President George W. Bush.
"This is wholly unacceptable. Mugabe must not be allowed tosteal the election."
"We call for Zimbabwe to accept a United Nations humanrights envoy to visit Zimbabwe now and to accept internationalmonitors from all parts of the world who are available toensure that this is a free and fair election," Brown said.
A senior U.N. envoy, Assistant Secretary-General forPolitical Affairs Haile Menkerios, arrives in Zimbabwe later onMonday for a five-day visit to assess Zimbabwe's political andhumanitarian crisis ahead of the run-off vote.
Observers from Western countries critical of Mugabe, suchas former colonial power Britain, were barred from the firstround ballot on March 29 and are not being allowed in for therun-off. The African Union and Southern African DevelopmentCommunity will send teams.
ARRESTS
Bush offered his support to Brown's call.
"We will work with you to ensure these good folks have freeand fair elections to the best extent possible, which obviouslyMr Mugabe does not want to have," he said.
Mugabe, 84, is fighting to keep power which he has heldsince independence from Britain in 1980. His ZANU-PF lostcontrol of parliament in the March 29 election.
Tsvangirai has been detained repeatedly during the campaignand one of his top lieutenants has been arrested and facestreason charges. The MDC says 66 people have been killed byMugabe's supporters. Mugabe blames his foes for violence.
Critics say the economy has been ruined by Mugabe'spolicies, such as seizing white-owned farms to give to landlessblacks. He says Western sanctions are responsible.
Zimbabwe's once prosperous economy has collapsed, withofficial inflation running at 165,000 percent, unemployment ataround 80 percent and food and fuel in short supply. Millionsof Zimbabweans have sought work abroad, most heading to SouthAfrica, where their presence has stoked social tensions.
Zimbabwe ordered aid agencies to stop work on June 4,accusing them of working against his ZANU-PF party.
"Food aid is needed and the government is focusing on that.That is a need the NGOs exploited, saying 'we are feeding you,so do not vote for ZANU-PF, vote for the MDC'," Mugabe said ina campaign rally on Sunday, state media reported.
"So we suspended them and are investigating theiroperations."
(Additional reporting by Katherine Baldwin in London,editing by Matthew Tostevin and Gordon Bell)
