Ban Ki-moon welcomes announcement of African summit on Zimbabwe

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today he is pleased that regional leaders in southern Africa are mobilizing to “help Zimbabwe overcome its post-electoral crisis through peaceful means.”

Through a statement issued by his spokesperson, Mr. Ban congratulated the leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) for arranging a summit of heads of State in Lusaka, Zambia, on 13 April to discuss the situation.

Earlier this week, Mr. Ban expressed concern that the results of presidential elections in Zimbabwe have not been released and urged the electoral authorities to do so “expeditiously and with transparency.”

“The situation in Zimbabwe could deteriorate if there is no prompt action to resolve this impasse,” he added in today’s statement.

In the presidential poll, the incumbent, Robert Mugabe, is facing Morgan Tsvangirai and Simba Makoni. If a winning candidate does not win more than 50 per cent of the total votes, a run-off race is required.

Mr Tsvangirai’s party, the Movement for Democratic Change, petitioned Zimbabwe’s High Court to demand the release of the election results. The electoral authorities have already announced the results of the Senate and parliamentary elections, which were held on the same day as the presidential vote.