West Pressures Africa on Zimbabwe Vote
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HARARE, Zimbabwe — The West piled pressure on Africa on Friday to condemn the reelection of President Robert Mugabe and join international isolation of the Zimbabwean leader.
European Union officials said leaders of the economic bloc, attending a summit in Barcelona, Spain, would issue a tough statement today on the election, roundly condemned as fraudulent by Zimbabwe’s opposition party, the U.S., Europe and white Commonwealth members.
Mugabe’s defeated challenger, Morgan Tsvangirai, has denounced last weekend’s vote as “daylight robbery,” saying tens of thousands of his supporters were stopped from voting or cowed by violence in which more than 100 people died.
In a move likely to provoke further Western condemnation, Mugabe on Friday enacted a media law criticized as aimed at muzzling freedom of speech.
But reaction among African nations to Zimbabwe’s vote has so far been largely positive.
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