Robert Mugabe unleashed his most-feared thugs on the streets of the Zimbabwean capital today in a very public show of force as his party's leadership united to back a last-ditch bid for him to stay in power. At its first meeting since the party's shock defeat at polls held last weekend, the Zanu (PF) politburo endorsed Mr Mugabe's bid for a second-round run-off against his opposition challenger, Morgan Tsvangirai. The continued absence of official results in the presidential race, which Mr Tsvangirai says he has won outright, raised fears that the figures were being held back and manipulated to ensure that a second round would take place.
After a week of high drama - from reports of his imminent concession to tonight's sudden nocturnal crackdown on foreign journalists and raids on opposition offices - fears are growing that Mr Mugabe is planning a violent, protracted fight to the end. More than 400 of his so-called war veterans, the shock troops that led the violent invasions of white-owned farms, marched through the streets of Harare today in a silent display of menace. Afterwards they addressed the media, vowing to defend the country's sovereignty against an opposition takeover. Echoing the fiery anti-British rhetoric of Mr Mugabe's election campaign, they said that they would defend Zimbabwe against a white invasion under the auspices of Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
The election has been seen as a way to reopen the invasion of our people by whites, Jabulani Sibanda, the veterans' leader, said. The state newspaper and mouthpiece for the Mugabe regime had carried yesterday a thinly sourced report about alleged attempts by white farmers to reclaim their farms after the Opposition's apparent victory. A shadow fell over even that parliamentary win when Zanu (PF) claimed that the Opposition had bribed electoral officials and that it would contest results for 16 parliamentary seats. If they are overturned Zanu (PF) would win back its majority.
Mr Sibanda said that the victory declaration by the MDC, whom Mr Mugabe casts as colonial stooges, was illegal and a provocation against us freedom fighters. The powerful militia supposedly comprises former rebel fighters from the Rhodesian bush war, but many are young men born long after independence was won 28 years ago. Reports from rural areas talked of the mobilisation of youth militia, who along with the veterans carried out much of the intimidation of voters in past elections that was missing from this time around. Six days after the historic polls brought millions hungry for change flocking to the ballot box, there was still no sign of the official result of the presidential contest, prompting the Opposition to prepare a case to take to court demanding their immediate release. Under the country's election law, authorities have one week to release all the results.
So we want to see results by today. If that doesn't happen then we will retrieve all our tools including court process to make sure we give Zimbabweans the results as soon as possible, Nelson Chamisa, the MDC spokesman, said. Foreign governments have joined in the clamour for the results to be announced, expressing their fears of foul play. But in a serious blow for the Opposition, South Africa yesterday slammed a media conspiracy, casting aspersions on the reasons for the delay. South Africa, the regional superpower, is regarded as the only Government with any hope of pressuring Mr Mugabe into leaving quietly. Gordon Brown has been in close contact with South African leaders over the past week in an effort to persuade them that Mr Mugabe must be made to go. But yesterday, a day after his first public appearance in nearly a week, Mr Mugabe looked far from a man at the end of his reign, wisecracking in front of the cameras as he convened the politburo meeting, joking with one high-profile election casualty that he had been struck by lighting at the polls.
Opposition politicians also met today to hammer out a joint strategy. By law, a run-off should be held within 21 days of the elections, but suspicions are building that Mr Mugabe intends to use controversial and disputed presidential powers to put off a vote for up to three months, thus giving himself time to intimidate the Opposition. There are also fears he would seek to remove the electoral provisions that made it so hard to steal the vote, such as the publication of results at individual polling stations, which the MDC used to produce its own parallel results showing an outright victory. The MDC has said that Mr Tsvangirai will submit to a second round under protest but still maintains he won the first round outright. Zanu (PF) projections put Mr Tsvangirai as the winner but with just less than the 50 per cent required to win outright. One British and one American journalist seized from their hotel on Thursday night were charged under tough media laws today for operating without government accreditation. The United States called today for the immediate release of Barry Bearak, a Pulitzer prize winning correspondent for The New York Times, and revealed that a second American, Dileepan Sivapathasundaram, a senior officer with the election monitor group the National Democratic Institute, had been arrested at Harare airport as he tried to leave the country.