Zimbabwe Opposition 'Optimistic' After Meeting Mbeki, Getting Assurances

The Zimbabwe opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), led by Morgan Tsvangirai, has been meeting with African leaders in an effort to shore up support against the regime of Robert Mugabe, which preliminary vote counts suggest may have lost the recent election, both for parliament and the presidency. Mugabe's suppoerters have been fighting to keep down opposition support, while Mugabe has refused to allow vote counts to be made public.

The electoral standoff is creating worries of a deepening crisis, expanding on the economic chaos brought on by the Mugabe regime's policies, which have led to inflation in excess of 100,000%. The Times of London reports:

Levy Mwanawasa, the Zambian President, will host an urgent meeting of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) tomorrow to formulate a regional approach to the worsening situation.

After a meeting with the South African president, Thabo Mbeki, a spokesman for Tsvangirai said he had Mbeki's assurance the opposition leader would be included in the regional summit, and that his apparent victory in the parliamentary and presidential elections would qualify him as "head of state". The statement has not been made by Mbeki himself, but the message will clearly put heavy pressure on Mr. Mugabe to recognize and publish the legitimate count of votes.
Disturbing news of regime supporters using violence and state power to intimidate the opposition, continue to emerge:

Unwilling to allow Mr Mugabe to slope off into retirement, those supporting him – including the military – have taken the reigns, unleashing an orchestrated campaign of terror against opposition activists, election observes an ordinary voters in an attempt to secure Mr Mugabe victory in a second-round poll.

White-owned farms were the first targets of the violence that insiders say is being co-ordinated by 200 handpicked military and intelligence officers loyal to the President.

Police have also arrested Mr Tsvangirai’s lawyer. Innocent Chagonda, who successfully defended Mr Tsvangirai from treason charges in 2004, was seized on charges related to a helicopter hired for the MDC.

The MDC says the arrest is part of an orchestrated campaign to beat the opposition into submission and stave off pressures from the international community. Reports suggest the Mugabe regime hopes to suppress the release of vote totals, contest a runoff vote, and outlast calls for a peaceful transition of leadership.