Reuters
HARARE - Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai took refuge in the Dutch embassy after pulling out of the presidential run-off vote, and UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the poll would lack legitimacy if it went ahead.
Ban, speaking at the United Nations, urged President Robert Mugabe on Monday not to hold the second-round run-off as planned on Friday, saying its result would not be credible.
Dutch officials said Tsvangirai had taken refuge in the Dutch embassy on Sunday after pulling out of the election because of repeated attacks on his supporters.
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change said police raided its Harare headquarters on Monday and took away more than 60 victims of the violence sheltering there, including women and children. The MDC says nearly 90 of its supporters have been killed by militias backing Mugabe.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said it was still looking forward to elections on Friday. "We don't have a war. We will be able to hold credible elections," ZEC chairman George Chiweshe said.
Ban, speaking to reporters after meeting the UN Security Council, said Tsvangirai's withdrawal was understandable.
"I would strongly discourage the authorities from going ahead with the run-off on Friday," Ban said. "It will only deepen divisions within the country and produce a result that cannot be credible."
He said he was distressed by events leading to Tsvangirai's withdrawal. "There has been too much violence and too much intimidation," he said. "A vote held in these conditions would lack all legitimacy."
Without specifically blaming Mugabe, Ban spoke of a "campaign of threat and intimidation" against the citizens of Zimbabwe, and said the situation was "the single greatest challenge to regional stability in southern Africa today."
The Security Council later began talks on possible action, and Britain circulated a draft statement, obtained by Reuters, which said the body expressed full support for Tsvangirai in the absence of a legitimate second-round election.
Council diplomats said South Africa, a council member, wanted to remove wording clearly blaming Mugabe and suggesting that Tsvangirai could be considered a legitimately elected president.
Dutch say Tsvangirai in embassy
The Dutch foreign ministry said Tsvangirai had not requested asylum but had spent Sunday night in the embassy after withdrawing from the June 27 election. It said he was welcome to stay for his own security.
Zimbabwean Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri said the police had been 'shocked and surprised' by Tsvangirai's decision to seek refuge in the Dutch embassy.
"...it is obviously a calculated move to besmirch the presidential run-off election due this Friday ... and further brutalize the image of Zimbabwe and in particular the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) on the international arena," Chihuri told a news conference in Harare.
"We wonder from whom Mr. Tsvangirai is running away or hiding," Chihuri said. The MDC leader said earlier this year there was a plot by the Mugabe government to kill him.
Announcing his withdrawal, Tsvangirai said his supporters would have risked their lives by voting -- but said he was ready to negotiate with Mugabe's ZANU-PF party if the violence stopped.
Concern mounted both within and outside Africa over Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis, which has flooded neighboring states with millions of refugees. Both the African Union and Southern African Development Community (SADC) were discussing the situation following Tsvangirai's pullout.
Former colonial power Britain said Mugabe must be declared an illegitimate leader and sanctions should be stiffened against his inner circle, which Prime Minister Gordon Brown called "a criminal and discredited cabal."
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said even if the run-off went ahead it would not legitimize Mugabe's government.
Several countries have urged a unity government to end the crisis but both sides have previously rejected this. Analysts said Tsvangirai's withdrawal was likely to delay any solution of this kind.
Mugabe, 84, who has been in power since independence in 1980, has vowed never to hand over to the opposition, branding them puppets of the West.
He denies his supporters are responsible for the violence, which broke out after he and ZANU-PF lost elections on March 29. Official figures showed Tsvangirai fell short of an absolute majority in the presidential vote, forcing the run-off.
Mugabe has presided over a slide into economic chaos, including 80 percent unemployment and the world's highest inflation rate of at least 165,000 percent.