UN Security Council to Discuss Zimbabwe Crisis
By VOA News
29 April 2008
The United Nations Security Council meets Tuesday to discuss the post-election crisis in Zimbabwe.
Before the meeting, European Union foreign ministers called for a worldwide arms embargo on the southern African country.
Rights groups say Zimbabwe's government has been cracking down on members of the Movement for Democratic Change party, which won control of parliament in last month's elections.
The government denies the allegations and accuses MDC members of committing crimes and then hiding at party headquarters. Police today released more than 200 MDC activists arrested in the capital, Harare, last Friday.
Zimbabwe's electoral commission has still not released the results of the country's presidential election, held one month ago today.
The commission says it is finished with a partial recount and may release the results this week. The MDC says its candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, defeated President Robert Mugabe.
Electoral officials say the presidential candidates or their representatives will be invited to observe the final verification of the ballots. They indicated that process may take several days.
The MDC has accused President Mugabe of delaying the results in an effort to alter them and orchestrate a run-off vote. Mr. Tsvangirai asserts that he won an outright victory in the March 29 election, although independent observers say he may have fallen just short of a majority.
On Monday, the two formerly divided factions of the MDC reunited. The unified party will control at least 109 seats out of 210 in parliament.
At a joint news conference in South Africa, Mr. Tsvangirai and his former in-party rival Arthur Mutambara called on President Mugabe to resign.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
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