Mugabe rival withdraws from election in Zimbabwe

An opposition leader to Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe withdrew on Sunday from scheduled elections accusing Mugabe of attempting to intimidate political opponents with violence.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out of Zimbabwe's presidential runoff election scheduled for Friday after several opposition figures have been reportedly killed, tortured or intimidated. "We cannot stand there and watch people being killed for the sake of power," Tsvangirai said.

Tsvangirai called the elections a "violent, illegitimate sham" and accused the police of standing by while violent gangs waged a "terror campaign" of rape, torture, murder and other violence.

Robert Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since 1980 and the country is now on the verge of economic collapse. The first round of voting in March was widely condemned by observers and Mugabe loyalists took weeks before they announced results in the presidential race, which some observers believe Tsvangirai won.

Foreign ministers of countries in the Southern African Development Community were set to meet in Angola on Monday to discuss the crisis, according to the Washington Post. Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa, the SADC chairman, has reportedly called the election crisis a "tremendous embarrassment to all of us."