Zimbabwe Election Recount Delayed

The outcome of a partial recount of last month's disputed elections in Zimbabwe has been delayed.

The recount in 23 out of 210 seats was due to finish on Monday, but election officials said it would take longer.

The MDC opposition, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, says the recount is illegal and claims it beat Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF outright in the 29 March polls.

Meanwhile, a labour group said it believed a Chinese arms ship bound for Zimbabwe may be heading to Angola.

Zimbabwe's post-election violence is hampering the activities of humanitarian organisations and making the country's already dire food situation even more precarious. One-third of the population, or about four million people, are receiving food aid.

An official of the National Association of Non-governmental Organisations (NANGO), an umbrella body for humanitarian and civil organisations, who declined to be identified, told IRIN they were "concerned that post-election violence is brazenly denying people access to already scarce food ... It is becoming very difficult for humanitarian workers to get out there and extend food to needy communities."

Our governments in Africa have failed us, and they will prove their failure further on Zimbabwe. In this case I see the citizens and civil society as the only hope.

Civil society organisations in Zimbabwe represented by a Working Group composed of thirteen umbrella organisations from all sectors met on 6 April to map out a strategy for civil society to respond to the ongoing election challenges. The meeting raised concerns over the incomprehensible explanations about the delay in announcing the results and perceived these explanations as intolerable, insofar as they have precipitated socio-economic paralysis. The organisations therefore unequivocally reiterated the demand for the immediate release of the presidential election results and for tangible displays of commitment by the ruling elites to respect the will of the people.

As a Malawian I am hurt by sweeping statements such as the declaration by Thabo Mbeki that there is "No crisis in Zimbabwe." It hurts because the economic turmoil in Zimbabwe impacts negatively on Malawi but most importantly, Zimbabweans are like a family member. Our Malawian brothers and sisters settled in Zimbabwe for economic reasons and now consider themselves as Zimbabweans. We have also been at the mercy of some unspeakable dictatorial tendencies under Dr.Kamuzu Banda and no sane person would wish another country to go through the same hurt as we did.

Zimbabweans are on edge because maybe, just maybe, the crisis of sorts that has riddled the nation could very well be over. The hunger, poverty, displacement, and disenfranchisement could all end. And that hope, that glimmer of an end, is all the more reason to be on edge because the status quo is beyond untenable.