By MacDonald Dzirutwe
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe,defiant despite growing African condemnation of hisre-election, said on Friday the opposition must drop its claimto power and accept that he was the rightful head of state.
As Mugabe struck an intransigent stance, both Nigeria andBotswana rejected his re-election because of pre-poll violencewhich the opposition says killed 103 of its supporters.
Mugabe returned home from Egypt on Friday after an AfricanUnion summit earlier in the week which handed him anunprecedented rebuff, saying he should negotiate a nationalunity government with Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC opposition.
He told thousands of cheering supporters at the airport:"Tsvangirai and his group must disabuse themselves of theirclaim (to power)."
He added: "We are open to dialogue but reality is realityand it has to be accepted... I am the President of the Republicof Zimbabwe."
Mugabe extended his 28-year rule in a June 27 electionwhich Tsvangirai boycotted, saying a violent, government-backedcampaign made a fair vote impossible.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, expressed strongdispleasure at both the violent campaign and its result.
"We therefore do not consider the outcome of that electionas a basis for moving forward," Foreign Minister Ojo Maduekwetold reporters.
Botswana called on the Southern African DevelopmentCommunity, the regional body mediating in Zimbabwe, not torecognise the former guerrilla commander's election.
Botswana, which neighbours Zimbabwe, was one of the mostoutspoken critics of Mugabe, 84, at the summit.
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said onFriday a violent crackdown by security forces and pro-Mugabemilitias had killed 103 of its followers while 1,500 had beendetained.
Some 5,000 others, including polling agents, were missingafter being abducted by ruling ZANU-PF militia or securityagents since Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe in a first round ofvoting in March.
Mugabe remained defiant.
In remarks apparently aimed at Botswana and Zambia, anotherregional critic, Mugabe said: "If there are some who may wantto fight us, they should think twice. We don't intend to fightany neighbours. We are a peaceful country, but if there is a...neighbouring country that is itching for a fight, ah, thenlet them try it."
ECONOMY RUINED
Mugabe, in power since 1980, insisted that Zimbabwe'scrisis, which has ruined the economy and sent millions ofrefugees into neighbouring states, must be settled internally.
"We are happy that the AU accepted the position that theZimbabwean problem must be resolved by Zimbabweans throughnegotiations," he said.
Tsvangirai has rejected talks until violence ends. He saysMugabe's ZANU-PF party must accept him as the rightful electionwinner, after a first round poll in March in which he defeatedthe veteran president.
Tsvangirai's MDC said that not a single member of ZANU-PFhad been arrested despite the murder of its supporters.
MDC supporters arrested, on charges of political violence,included 20 legislators or parliamentary candidates, theopposition said in a statement. Members of parliament had beenheld for "trumped up charges" of inciting violence.
"The regime cannot talk dialogue when it is acting waracross the length and breadth of the country," the MDC said.
Botswana noted that Mugabe had ignored appeals from SADCand the U.N. Security Council to call off the election.
"As a country that practises democracy and the rule of law,Botswana does not ... recognise the outcome of the presidentialrun-off election and would expect other SADC member states todo the same," Botswana's Foreign Minister Phandu Skelemanisaid.
Mugabe said he wanted South African President Thabo Mbekito continue mediating in the Zimbabwe crisis, as he has done asthe official SADC mediator since last year.
Mbeki has been widely criticised, including inside SouthAfrica itself, for what is seen as ineffective mediation thatfavours Mugabe. Tsvangirai says he is not satisfied with Mbekiand has called for an AU envoy to lead expanded mediation.
South Africa's Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Aziz Pahad,told journalists on Friday Pretoria hoped Mugabe and theopposition were seriously preparing for negotiations on a unitygovernment "despite what they are saying in public."
He said violence must stop to allow dialogue to start.
The U.S. embassy in Harare has found shelter for around 200victims of the election violence who began camping outside itscompound on Thursday, American spokesman Mark Weinberg said.
Women and children were moved to safe houses on Thursdaynight and Weinberg said about 160 men would be put in the careof U.N. and other international aid organisations.
(Writing by Barry Moody; additional reporting by NelsonBanya and Cris Chinaka in Harare, Paul Simao, Gordon Bell andMarius Bosch in Johannesburg; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)
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