London
23 June 2008
Britain says Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe can expect morepressure from the international community due to the deterioratingsituation in his country before Friday's presidential runoff vote. Asenior official in London also says Britain supports Zimbabweanopposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's decision to withdraw from theelection. Tendai Maphosa has more for VOA from London.
Malloch Brown says Mr. Tsvangirai's withdrawal fromthe runoff election throws into question any claim to victory byPresident Mugabe.
"He has no claims under his own constitutionfor the presidency," Brown said. "The AU [African Union] has clearconditions about not accepting any more presidents non-democraticallyelected to hold their seats, SADC [Southern African DevelopmentCommunity] has its own clear principles about the conduct of elections;all of these have essentially been breached. We do not accept thestatus quo and we do not expect the international community to acceptthe status quo."
President Mugabe has consistently blamed theopposition for the violence and outside interference, especially fromformer colonial power, Britain. Both the opposition and Britain denythe charge.
But, says Malloch Brown, the events of the past sixmonths show that situation in Zimbabwe can now be characterized asMugabe against the international community.
To this end, hesaid, the situation is up for discussion by various organizationsincluding the United Nations, the European Union, the G8 and the AfricaUnion.
"So, we expect out of all these different forums,action," said Brown. "Some of them, like the EU or the G8, it isappropriate for us to make proposals as to what that action should be. Others such as the U.N. and the AU it is important that we are verymuch part of the discussion."
Last week the European Unionwarned that unspecified additional measures would be taken againstthose responsible for the violent campaign in Zimbabwe. EU sanctionsalready include a travel ban on Mr. Mugabe and 130 members of his innercircle.