Zimbabwe's ruling party opens runoff campaign, denounces violence

Zimbabwe's ruling party has opened its runoff campaign, urging President Robert Mugabe's supporters to get out to vote and denouncing violence, state media reported Tuesday.

Amid international concern about rising intimidation and violence, especially against opposition supporters, African Union foreign ministers prepared to discuss the situation in Zimbabwe at a meeting in Tanzania.

Tanzania's Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Membe said African Union Commission Chairman Jean Ping, who met with Mugabe in Zimbabwe on Monday, would attend. He said Zimbabwe's foreign minister was also expected to brief the meeting.

Zimbabwe's electoral commission announced on Friday that Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the March 29 presidential election, but did not reach the simple majority needed to avoid a runoff with second place finisher Mugabe.

The opposition has dismissed those results as fraudulent, claiming Tsvangirai won outright, and has not yet said whether he would contest a runoff. No date for the second round has been set.

Tsvangirai's party and independent rights groups have accused the army and ruling party militants of mounting a campaign of violence and intimidation intended to undermine support for the opposition before any runoff.

The state-owned Herald said ZANU-PF was upbeat about victory, quoting party spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira as saying that many supporters did not vote during the first round because they assumed there was no threat to Mugabe's rule.

"We urge all our members to vote for President Mugabe _ a man who has transformed this country from being a colony to an independent, sovereign and dynamic state," Shamuyarira was quoted as saying.

"We are urging our members to avoid violence," he added. "We are urging our people to go and campaign and vote peacefully. We are also urging the opposition to avoid violence and respect people's lives."

In neighboring South Africa, the ruling African National Congress said it was "critically important" that Zimbabweans should be able to "exercise their right to vote in a free, fair and peaceful manner."

"In this regard, the ANC expresses concern at reports of violence and intimidation emanating from that country," it said in a statement.

Mugabe, 84, was hailed at independence in 1980 for promoting racial reconciliation and bringing education and health care to the black majority. But in recent years he has been accused of holding onto power through elections that independent observers say were marred by fraud, intimidation and rigging, and of overseeing his country's economic collapse.