Vote for Mugabe based on 'fear'

Vote for Mugabe based on 'fear'

By MICHELLE FAUL, AP

JOHANNESBURG -- Robert Mugabe's mother told him when he was a child that he had been chosen by God to be a great leader. So nothing less than divine power -- not elections, foreign critics, a crumbling economy nor a much younger opposition leader -- can unseat him.

In the mind of Zimbabwe's leader of nearly three decades, reality is summed up by a massive banner hanging in the entrance to the presidential offices: Mugabe is Right.

Mugabe, 84, defied the world Friday to hold a one-man presidential runoff on the heels of a campaign of torture and violence in which dozens of opposition supporters have been killed and thousands injured.

The runoff was widely condemned by world leaders. The few Zimbabweans who went to vote did so only out of fear.

According to human rights groups, at least 86 people died and some 200,000 were forced from their homes. Most of the violence was blamed on police, soldiers and Mugabe militants. T

here were reports of victims being beaten for hours and bodies mutilated.

"The international community has condemned the Mugabe regime's ruthless campaign of politically motivated violence and intimidation with a strong and unified voice," U.S. President George W. Bush said yesterday. "We will press for strong action by the United Nations."