Opposition should lead any Zimbabwe unity government: U.S.

Police arrest Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) supporters at Harvest house in Harare April 25, 2008. (REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo)

LUSAKA (Reuters) - The United States' top diplomat for Africa said on Sunday any national unity government in Zimbabwe should be headed by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who Washington believes won a March 29 election.

While a partial election recount showed the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) wrested a parliamentary majority from veteran President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF for the first time since independence in 1980, results of a parallel presidential poll have not been released.

Election officials said they hoped to compile all statistics by Monday for opposition verification before they are published.

"The key here is that the people's will be respected," Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer told Reuters Television in an interview.

"So if there is going be an inclusive government ..., if you want to use the word, government of national unity, I believe it should be led by whom the people voted for which is Morgan Tsvangirai," she said in Zambia, part of a regional tour in which Zimbabwe has been a focus of talks.

A commentary in Zimbabwe's state-run newspaper The Herald last week floated the idea of a unity government, led by Mugabe. The MDC has said any government it would form would be inclusive, but has not spelled out details.

Frazer, who has also visited South Africa and Angola, also said regional leaders had to tell Mugabe loud and clear that post-election violence -- in which the MDC says at least 15 people have been killed -- had to end immediately.

Africa's response to the post-election turmoil including the arrest of scores of opposition members has been muted overall, although states have called for a speedy release of results.

"I think that the region needs to speak very, very loudly and very clearly to President Mugabe and his government to say that the violence must come to an end immediately. It's unacceptable to beat people just because they decided to go out and vote, and apparently to vote for change."

The government denies it is waging a campaign of violence.

VERIFYING RESULTS

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said on Saturday it did not know when the presidential results would be published, but it hoped to compile the recount statistics by Monday and then invite candidates to check results before making them public.

The parliamentary defeat has increased pressure on Mugabe ahead of an expected run-off against Tsvangirai.

Until know, parliament has been little more than a rubber-stamp for Mugabe's policies. But if he remains president, his loss of parliament would make governing more difficult because he would need opposition support to pass legislation.

An editorial in Zimbabwe's pro-opposition The Standard weekly urged Tsvangirai on Sunday to boycott any run-off since it would be a "charade."

The paper said a free and fair vote was not possible in the current environment, and called on the MDC to focus on collecting evidence of violence to help prosecute Mugabe's ZANU-PF supporters in the future.

Tsvangirai has given mixed signals on whether he would participate in a run-off with Mugabe.

The MDC initially said they would take part, but only under protest because they felt elections had been rigged. Then Tsvangirai said he would not accept a runoff. He has also said he would only contest another election if it was supervised by international observers, led by the United Nations.

Mugabe, a hero of the independence struggle, accuses the opposition of plotting with Western critics to end his three decades in power, which began with hopes that Zimbabwe would become an African model of democratic and economic success.

Today, Zimbabweans face severe shortages of basic goods and an inflation rate of 165,000 percent -- the world's highest.

(Additional reporting by Cris Chinaka in Harare; Writing by Caroline Drees)

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