Zimbabwe opposition unites, urges Mugabe to step down

Zimbabwean leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai, leaves a news conference in Johannesburg, Monday April 28, 2008. Zimbabwe's opposition leaders declared Monday that the country's opposition has won control of parliament for the first time in history _ and that President Robert Mugabe must concede defeat. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa—Zimbabwe's opposition movement united Monday in spite of long-standing divisions, declaring that it has won control of Parliament for the first time in history and that President Robert Mugabe must concede defeat.

Opposition leaders also appealed to the U.N. Security Council to send a special envoy to Zimbabwe and to warn Mugabe that the mounting violence against opposition supporters was tantamount to "crimes against humanity."

Putting months of bickering behind them, Movement for Democratic Change leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara stood together and ordered Mugabe to step aside.

"Old man, go and have an honorable exit," Tsvangirai said in a message to the 84-year-old autocrat who has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980.

"In a parliamentary democracy, the majority rule," Tsvangirai said alongside Mutambara at a news conference. "He should concede that ... he cannot be president."

More than a month after the elections, results from the presidential race have not been announced. Tsvangirai maintains that he won the presidency outright -- although independent observers say he fell just short of the votes needed to avoid a runoff.

Tsvangirai reiterated Monday that he would not take part in a runoff.

"The question about a runoff doesn't arise. It doesn't arise because of the simple fact that the people have spoken, the people have decided," he said.

The opposition maintains that hundreds of its supporters have been arrested, attacked or driven from their homes, especially in rural areas that used to be Mugabe strongholds but voted against him in the elections. It says that 14 of its supporters have died, but there is no independent confirmation of this.

The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights says more than 63 people were hospitalized in three days last week alone, and provided shocking photos of injuries.

Movement for Democratic Change secretary-general, Tendai Biti, was due at U.N. headquarters in New York for a U.N. Security Council discussion Tuesday on the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe.

Tsvangirai said Biti would ask the Security Council "firstly to stop the violence, and to communicate to the regime in Harare that its actions are tantamount to crimes against humanity." Biti would also ask the U.N. to send a special envoy to investigate the violence and recommend a way to resolve it.

On Monday, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission failed to publish the results of the recount of 23 disputed parliamentary seats from the elections, as had been scheduled.

Officials announced Saturday that recounts of 18 of 23 disputed parliamentary seats left initial results unchanged -- enough to confirm opposition's seizure of control of parliament from Mugabe's ZANU-PF party for the first time.

Results of the final five disputed seats were due to have been announced Monday, but there was no mention of the final count.

Late Monday, state radio in Zimbabwe quoted electoral commission officials as saying it would be at least another three days before the parliamentary results were final, but saying nothing about the presidential results.

The two opposition leaders celebrated the results and said they have put past rivalry between them aside. They said they wanted to work with former Finance Minister Simba Makoni, the third presidential candidate, and also would approach sympathetic ZANU-PF lawmakers to see if they would cross party lines.

"We are all going to work together in case Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF try to sabotage the will of the people," Mutambara said.

"We are in control of parliament. We are also controlling the senate. This is the state of affairs in our country," he said.

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Associated Press correspondent Angus Shaw in Harare, Zimbabwe, contributed to this report.