Zimbabwe: \'UN resolution blames Mugabe\'- Opposition leader Tsvangirai

(SomaliNet) An \"important\" United Nation Security Council ruling placed the blame for violence against the Zimbabwean opposition with President Robert Mugabe\'s leadership, Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Tuesday.

The UN body condemned the violence and said it made a free and fair presidential election run-off impossible. Tsvangirai has pulled out of the run-off, scheduled for Friday.

\"I think it\'s a very important resolution,\" Tsvangirai told Dutch public broadcaster Radio 1.

\"It recognises the people who are accountable for the violence, and it squarely placed that responsibility at Mugabe\'s leadership... I am sure that he can no longer remain defiant to that international position.\"

Tsvangirai repeated that he would not be participating in the election.

\"It\'s ridiculous to go into an election of that kind. It\'s a one-man competition,\" Tsvangirai said.

On Monday the Security Council condemned the violence and intimidation against the opposition in Zimbabwe and urged that the presidential runoff vote not be held Friday as planned.

After hours of haggling, the 15-member council unanimously adopted a watered-down, non-binding statement that \"condemns the campaign of violence against the political opposition ahead of the second round\" of voting scheduled for Friday.

The British-drafted text also made it clear that the violence and restrictions placed on the opposition \"have made it impossible for a free and fair election to take place on 27 June.\" - Sapa, AFP and Reuters