Zimbabwe: more beatings, more abductions as the world watches

The UN Security Council have unanimously agreed with the stance taken by Morgan Tsvangirai and have stated that elections in Zimbabwe would not have been possible given the levels of violence in that country and have called on Mugabe not to go ahead with Friday's elections as this would produce results, according to the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, "that cannot be credible".

However, despite Tsvangirai and his party stepping down from the electoral process, the violence towards the MDC continues unabated.

As Mugabe's forces kept up their assault on the opposition, raiding the opposition Movement for Democratic Change's HQ and hauling away scores of people sheltering from abductions, beatings and worse, the security council unanimously adopted a statement condemning the government's "campaign of violence" that had "denied its political opponents the right to campaign freely".

What is most significant here is that South Africa, who have previously worked at blocking any UN statement which condemns Mugabe, have agreed with the statement. Mugabe is becoming more and more isolated as even Mbeki finds it impossible to defend what the old tyrant has been doing. However, isolation appears to be bringing out the worst in Mugabe, as he spent yesterday vowing to still go after members of the MDC.

But the ruling Zanu-PF said the election would go ahead regardless despite Tsvangirai's withdrawal, while Mugabe repeated threats to pursue his opponents after the ballot. He warned he held the MDC responsible for the violence, and said the government would pursue those it regarded as responsible for the country's economic collapse, including white businessmen.

"Sooner or later we are going to accuse the MDC leadership of being vicariously responsible for the violence," he said.

Tsvangirai fled to the Dutch embassy as soon as he announced that MDC were withdrawing from the election for his own safety, as Zanu-PF supporters continued to inflict violence on MDC supporters throughout the country.

The UN statement represents a significant victory for the US, UK and France who campaigned strongly for other world leaders not to recognise Mugabe's continued presidency.

"The international community must send a powerful and united message: that we will not recognise the fraudulent election rigging and the violence and intimidation of a criminal and discredited cabal," Gordon Brown told parliament.

In the next two days, the leaders of Angola, Tanzania and Swaziland, who take a lead role in security issues in SADC, are due to meet in the Angolan capital, Luanda. The meeting suggests some of the group may be ready to act without Mbeki, who has emerged as Mugabe's protector on the continent.

The AU yesterday signalled that it was prepared to take action. The chairman of the AU commission, Jean Ping, said: "One of the preconditions is that this violence against the people must be stopped." Tsvangirai's withdrawal and "the increasing acts of violence in the run-up to the second round of the presidential election are a matter of grave concern", Ping said.

Mugabe, despite international condemnation, has stated that the elections will go ahead on Friday and that he will claim victory based on the results, despite the fact that no-one in the international community will lend any credence to his claims.

Zanu-PF said the presidential election would go ahead. The justice minister, Patrick Chinamasa, described Tsvangirai's withdrawal as an attempt to "hoodwink" Mugabe's supporters.

"Zanu-PF is not treating the threats seriously; it is a nullity. We are proceeding with our campaign to romp to victory on Friday," he said.

"Tsvangirai went into the election thinking that it was a sprint, and was not prepared for a marathon and wants to avoid defeat. He spent his time globe-trotting and gallivanting in Europe and left MDC supporters without leadership.

"Zanu-PF exploited the opportunity and campaigned vigorously for victory. When [Tsvangirai] returned, he realised that the tables had turned against him." The Zimbabwe government continues to blame the MDC for the violence. "The MDC and its western masters are waging a war on us, and we have been forced to adopt a defensive position to safeguard our political independence and national sovereignty," Chinamasa said.

Once again, Zanu-PF continue to play the card that all of Zimbabwe's problems are the work of outside imperialist forces, intent on wrestling Zimbabwe from Mugabe's hands. It is also despicable that the orgy of violence that Zanu-PF have indulged in is referred to as "vigorous campaigning". This "vigorous campaigning" has included rounding people into camps to give them "voting lessons".

But there has been a very worrying development for Mugabe, for the first time ever a leading politician has raised the prospect of military intervention.

Last night, Lord Ashdown said military intervention could be necessary if the situation worsened. Zimbabwe, he told the Times, "could deteriorate to a point where genocide could be a possible outcome - something that looks like Rwanda".

At this point in time the violence has not yet reached a level where military intervention would be legal, as we have not yet seen anything that could be labelled genocide. But I find it very interesting that Ashdown should have raised the subject, as there are many of us who would fully support an invasion to remove Mugabe if that's what it takes to bring this to a conclusion.

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Tags: Zimbabwe, Mugabe, Tsvangirai, Zanu-PF, MDC