Tsvangirai rejects unity government

Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday rejected calls for a national unity government instead of a presidential runoff vote and said his party was sure to win the election despite government violence.

Mr Tsvangirai told a news conference Zimbabwe had suffered a de 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 and a former Finance Minister, said earlier the June 27 run-off between President Robert Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai must be called off because a free and fair vote was impossible.

"Following the announcement of the date for the run-off, no one can change that due process unless Robert Mugabe concedes defeat, or collapses. It therefore means that a government of national unity negotiated before the runoff does not arise," Mr Tsvangirai said.

US-based Human Rights Watch also said brutal intimidation and murder by Mr Mugabe's supporters made normal campaigning impossible.

"As a people we have been exposed to state-sponsored brutality. The violence continues unabated," Mr Tsvangirai said.

He said 3,000 MDC supporters had been injured and more than 25,000 displaced but the MDC would win even if Zanu-PF prevented them campaigning.

"As far as I am concerned I can stay home from now on until the election, Mugabe will lose. It's just a formality to go and campaign, the people have already decided."

An EU-US summit in Slovenia yesterday called on the Zimbabwe government to end what it called state-sponsored violence and urged UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to send monitors to deter further violence.