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The World from Berlin

'No End in Sight for the Nightmare in Zimbabwe'

The UN Security Council said free and fair elections were impossible in Zimbabwe on Monday. With opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai seeking refuge in the Dutch embassy and Mugabe clinging to power, German papers see a bleak future.

As the political crisis in Zimbabwe lurches from bad to worse, the United Nations has unanimously agreed to condemn the violence that has plagued the election campaign. Hours after opposition leader Morgan Tsvangarai sought refuge in the Dutch embassy in Harare on Monday the Security Council said that free and fair elections in Friday's presidential run-off were "impossible."

On Sunday Tsvangarai withdrew from the race, claiming that the intimidation and violence carried out against supporters of his Movement for Democratic Change(MDC) by his challenger and Zimbabwe's ruler Robert Mugabe has made it too dangerous to contest the election.

The non-binding statement released on Monday by the 15-nation UN body, including Russia, China and South Africa -- all of whom have been wary of being overly critical of Mugabe -- said: "The Security Council condemns the campaign of violence against the political opposition ahead of the second round of the presidential elections scheduled for 27 June, which has resulted in the killing of scores of opposition activists and other Zimbabweans and the beating and displacement of thousands of people, including women and children."

The Security Council also asked that the election not be held on Friday as planned. The statement came after hours of haggling and was a watered-down version of the original British-drafted text which would have explicitly blamed Mugabe's government for the crisis and would have called on Tsvangirai to be considered the legitimate leader in the absence of a credible run-off vote.

Mugabe, 84, was quoted by state-controlled media as saying that "Britain and her allies are telling a lot of lies about Zimbabwe, saying a lot of people are dying ... . They want to build a situation to justify their intervention."

According to Reuters, the Zimbabwean police commissioner Augustine Chichuri claimed that Tsvangarai's decision to seek refuge in the Dutch embassy had been intended "to besmirch the presidential run-off election … and further brutalize the image of Zimbabwe."

However, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade told the Associated Press on Tuesday that Tsvangarai had been fleeing soldiers when he sought refuge in the embassy and had only been able to escape due to a tip-off minutes before the soldiers arrived. The MDC said on Monday that police had raided its headquarters in Harare and took away more than 60 people, including women and children.

The opposition says that nearly 90 of its supporters have been killed since the first round of voting in March in which Tsvangirai won more votes than Mugabe but failed to win an outright majority.

On Tuesday German papers voice condemnation of the brutal methods Mugabe has employed to hold on to power but there are also words of criticism for his opponent Morgan Tsvangarai.

The Financial Times Deutschland writes:

"Robert Mugabe … is a catastrophe for Zimbabwe. The 84-year-old's brutal rule is even worse for his people than flood or drought. At least when it comes to natural disasters rapid aid comes from outside -- but the overthrow of a tyrant can and should only be organized by the international community in those exceptional cases where international law is violated."

"The calls for intervention by the UN, EU or US don't help. The only outside influence that can be exerted on Zimbabwe is from its African neighbors, in particular the regional power South Africa."

"The first step the Africans should take is to finally deny Mugabe any legitimacy. Ever since Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew his candidacy because he feared for the lives of his supporters, it has been obvious that Mugabe can only hold on to power by means of bloody repression. Even if many of those loyal to him still view him as a freedom fighter, his current behavior can by no means be justified."

The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:

"A rigged election would have made it easier for neighboring states to deal with Mugabe, because they could have isolated him on the basis of the presumed falsification."

"If Tsvangirai's withdrawal is serious and not just a tactical maneuver then he will have to explain himself to his foreign backers, who financed his campaign in the first round, namely America and Great Britain."

"The others who will feel abandoned are the many MDC supporters in Zimbabwe who have been beaten and whose homes have been burnt down because of their political views and their bravery -- and who nonetheless went out on the streets to campaign for their party. It can now be said for Tsvangirai: If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. It is quite possible that the former trade union leader has ruined his political future."

"In the end Mugabe has now won the election and without any rigging. What compromises should he make now?"

"What is left is resignation, particularly as the one hope for change, Morgan Tsvangirai, seems to have had enough. One consequence of Mugabe's easy 'election win' is clear: Even more Zimbabweans will now start out for South Africa in the hope of finding a better life there. As long as Mugabe rules, there is no end in sight for the nightmare in Zimbabwe."

-- Siobhán Dowling, 12:15 p.m. CET