African Union must ensure Zimbabwe vote fair: Wade

DAKAR (Reuters) - The African Union should oversee the second round of a presidential election in Zimbabwe on June 27 to prevent its result being called in to question, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade said on Saturday.

Wade has attempted to mediate in Zimbabwe's political crisis and met opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai at a conference in Belfast this week. He said on his return to Dakar he was confident of a peaceful outcome to the crisis.

"It is the African Union which must ensure the fairness of the elections so that no one contests the results," said Wade, who has criticised South African President Thabo Mbeki's efforts to end the crisis in Zimbabwe.

"Zimbabwe today is divided into two more or less equal parts and the reality is that neither side can govern without the other," Wade told state television on his return from Belfast.

Tsvangirai beat Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe in a March first round, monitored by observers from the SADC southern African grouping, but not by enough votes to avoid a runoff.

Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has accused the government of intimidating and attacking its supporters in an effort to rig the second round vote.

Tsvangirai said this week he would contest the vote even if only observers from the SADC group of southern African nations were present, as at the March election.

State media quoted Foreign Affair Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi as saying Zimbabwe would not invite any foreign observers to the presidential run-off and that only those who had monitored the March 29 poll could return.

The government has denied accusation of intimidation tactics and accuses the MDC of instigating the violence, in which the opposition says 40 of its supporters have been killed.

Mugabe, a former guerrilla leader and independence hero for many Africans, says the opposition is backed by hostile foreign governments.

"I would end by asking the West to be very moderate on Zimbabwe ... to not adopt strident positions for one or the other side," Wade said.

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(Reporting by Diadie Ba; Editing by Robert Woodward)

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