Zimbabwe: Sham Election, Illegitimate Inauguration

Press Statement
Tom Casey, Deputy Spokesman
Washington, DC
June 29, 2008

Crisis in Zimbabwe

The Government of Zimbabwe has followed a sham election with an illegitimate inauguration. As the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Troika and election observer mission, as well as many African leaders have already said, any outcome from this illegitimate runoff cannot be considered credible. We condemn the actions of the Mugabe regime, which continues to reject the will of the Zimbabwean people, abuse their human rights, and deny them humanitarian assistance.

As the nations of Africa gather in Egypt for the African Union (AU) Summit, the United States calls upon all members of the AU to reject the June 27 election, to denounce Robert Mugabe's inauguration, to support a joint AU/United Nations/SADC negotiating team that will work toward a resolution of the political crisis that reflects the will of the people as expressed on March 29. We also call upon SADC and UN Security Council to work closely with the AU to help the parties in Zimbabwe agree on a peaceful way forward.

As President Bush stated yesterday, the United States will support a legitimate, democratically elected government of Zimbabwe with assistance in the form of debt relief, normalization of relations with international financial institutions, and development assistance. In the meantime, the United States will not abandon the people of Zimbabwe. We will continue to provide direct humanitarian assistance to feed more than one million people and provide treatment to more than 40,000 needy patients.

2008/533
Released on June 29, 2008

ENDS

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