Mugabe inaugurated in Zimbabwe

The announcement of Mugabe's inauguration at the State House in Harare and the issuing of invitations were so hasty that both came several hours before the results of Friday's one-man presidential runoff election were released.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission eventually reported that Mugabe had received 2.1 million votes to 233,000 for Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change, who withdrew from the race June 22 because of intensifying violence against opposition supporters.

In a significant blow for Mugabe's bid to be accepted as Zimbabwe's legitimate president, regional observers from the Southern African Development Community rejected the election as not representing the will of the people. The group's observers, rarely critical of a member's election, raised concerns about the political violence and displacement of people. Observers of the Pan-African Parliament also condemned the election and strongly criticized the violence and intimidation.

The criticism by African observers leaves Mugabe in a difficult situation as he flies to Egypt for an African Union summit today, at which the election is likely to be raised.

He also faces pressure from the Bush administration and the British government, which have threatened to impose new sanctions against his regime and to press for strong action by the United Nations as early as today.

But China, which has had some arms trade with Zimbabwe, indicated that it might resist the effort, and it holds a veto as one of the five permanent members of the Security Council. When pressed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on the idea of an arms embargo at a meeting Sunday in Beijing, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi was vague.

"The most pressing task now is to stabilize the situation in Zimbabwe," Yang told reporters after the meeting. "China, as a responsible country, will also play a constructive role in this process."

In a phone interview Sunday, Tsvangirai said he feared that the violence that marked the election was not over.

"This is war, this is not an election. These people are for the total annihilation of the MDC," he said. "I think this violent campaign may be reduced to hit squads targeted at our leaders, MPs and councilors to get control of the parliament."