The African Democracy Forum, a coalition with more than 250 civil society organizations from all parts of Africa, notes with great concern the disturbing developments unfolding in Zimbabwe. The delay in the announcement of Presidential election results is both unwarranted and unjustifiable and has caused an unnecessary anxiety in the country. The delay leads to suspicion that the people’s vote is being tampered with. We therefore call upon the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to release the results forthwith.

The ADF condemns and deplores the silence, particularly the "wait and see" attitude taken by both the African Union and the Southern African Development Cooperation institutions.

The ADF calls upon the member states of those institutions to prevail upon Zimbabwean officials to guarantee the due and timely conclusion of the electoral process.

Further, we call upon these bodies to redeploy observer missions back to Zimbabwe as the election process is not yet over.

The Government of Zimbabwe must guarantee the safety and freedom of Zimbabwe Electoral Commission officials, local election observers, pro democracy activists and journalists as well as opposition members and supporters now, and should a run off be necessary.

The ADF is convinced that unless the results are announced and government is legally constituted, peace and stability in Zimbabwe and indeed in the region will be under threat.

The ADF joins other local and international actors seeking to hold the Government of Zimbabwe both personally and corporately accountable for any failure to address these issues that threaten peace and stability in the country.

Done in Kiev, Ukraine

9 April 2008

Hannah Forster

Chairperson, African Democracy Forum