Members of a Mugabe-backed militia beat opposition supporters at the venue of a scheduled party rally for the Movement for Democratic Change in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, yesterday. - AP

"A THREAT to democracy." That is how Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Dr Ken Baugh, has described the situation in Zimbabwe, which caused Opposition Leader Morgan Tsvangirai and his Move-ment For Democratic Change (MDC) to announce it will not contest the run-off election on June 27.

Tsvangirai's announcement cleared the way for President Robert Mugabe to continue his 28-year rule.

Tsvangirai pulled out of Zimbabwe's violence-wracked presidential run-off Sunday, declaring the election was no longer credible and that the loss of life among his supporters was simply too high.

Disappointed

Baugh, in a release yesterday, said Jamaica had been paying close attention to the situation in Zimbabwe, particularly since the March 29 presidential and parliamentary elections.

"We have been extremely disappointed at reported developments in the country," Baugh said.

Tsvangirai has called for the United Nations, the European Union and African Union leaders in the southern belt of the continent to intervene.

Here, Baugh has called for African leaders, particularly leaders of the Southern African Develop-ment Community to take a firm stand and use their influence to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday blamed Zimbabwe's government for the breakdown in the election process and called for the run-offs to be postponed.

Zimbabwe officials, however, said the election would go ahead as planned.

Tsvangirai won the first round of the presidential election on March 29, but according to official results did not gain an outright majority against the 84-year-old Mugabe, who has held power since independence from Britain in 1980.