U.N. human rights chief voices alarm over Zimbabwe

GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations' top human rights official, Louise Arbour, expressed alarm on Sunday over post-election violence in Zimbabwe that she said could undermine efforts to overcome the country's political crisis.

"I am particularly concerned about reports of threats, intimidation, abuse and violence directed against NGOs, election monitors, human rights defenders and other representatives of civil society," Arbour said in a statement released in Geneva.

"The information I have received suggests an emerging pattern of political violence inflicted mainly, but not exclusively, on rural supporters of the opposition MDC party," she said, referring to the Movement for Democratic Change, which Washington believes won Zimbabwe's March 29 election.

"If serious and systematic human rights violations persist, they will undermine national and regional attempts to defuse the present political crisis," Arbour added.

The opposition MDC says at least 15 people have been killed and scores more have been arrested since the presidential poll, whose results have not yet been released.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe accuses his critics of plotting with Western nations to end his three decades in power, which began with hopes that Zimbabwe would become an African model of democratic and economic success.

Today, Zimbabweans face severe shortages of basic goods and an inflation rate of 165,000 percent -- the world's highest.

(Reporting by Laura MacInnis)