Zimbabwe’s veteran leader Robert Mugabe was inaugurated for a fresh five-year term on Sunday after being declared landslide winner of a presidential run-off in which he was the only candidate.

“I, Robert Gabriel Mugabe do swear that I will truly serve in the office of president, so help me God,” Mugabe said to applause during a ceremony at his official residence in Harare.

The inauguration extends his unbroken 28-year rule over the former British colony.

Even before the results from Friday’s poll had been formally issued, Ministry of Information officials told reporters that Mr Mugabe would be sworn in at the presidential residence at 3pm (1300 GMT).

The announcement that Mr Mugabe had won in all of Zimbabwe's main cities emerged at 1343 GMT.

Total results, according to the electoral commission, were more than 2 million votes for Mugabe, and 233,000 for opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai. Turnout was put at about 42 per cent, and 131,000 ballots had been defaced or otherwise spoiled. Neither candidate got credit for the spoiled ballots.

Moments after the results were announced on state TV, a marching band opened the inauguration ceremonies.

Mr Mugabe was the only active candidate, in an election scarred by violence and intimidation. Mr Tsvangirai pulled out of the poll, despite winning the first round, after it became clear that Mr Mugabe and his henchmen in the ruling Zanu-PF party would not cede power. He angrily rejected an invitation to attend the inauguration ceremony, and said that he would ask the African Union (AU) not to recognise the bogus result.

Mr Mugabe’s spokesman, George Charamba, told Reuters the invitation was “done in the spirit of the president’s wish to reach out...It is a major step towards political engagement.”

The AU is set to hold a summit in Egypt tomorrow amid growing calls for it to do something to stop even worse bloodshed and chaos in a country once held up as a model to the rest of the continent.

Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga, echoing the views of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, has called for AU troops to be sent to the country to police some form of negotiated settlement. He described events in the country as “embarrassing” to the whole continent.

Mr Mugabe has said that he will attend the summit in Sharm el Sheikh.

Now re-elected, he has indicated he might be prepared to negotiate with the opposition. The state-controlled Sunday Mail newspaper reported today that he had told Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, the leader of an African Union observer team that he was open to talks suggested by Catholic bishops.

Mr Tsvangirai, who previously said he would not talk to Mr Mugabe if he pressed ahead with Friday's ballot, has also indicated he would now take part. Commentators say that Mr Mugabe wants to ensure that Zanu-PF retains the presidency in any government of national unity which may precede his departure after 28 years in power.

African states, independent elections monitors, human rights groups have all condemned the poll. More than 80 people have been killed and another estimated 200,000 forced to flee their homes in state-sponsored attacks on opposition voters.

The violence appears to have continued even beyond the end of the ballot. Human Rights Watch said in a statement that Mugabe supporters beat people who couldn’t show a finger stained with red ink to prove that they voted.

Independent observers had said many of those who did go to the polls voted out of fear, and his supporters may have spoiled their ballots rather than vote for Mugabe.

In Bulawayo, for instance, official results showed Mugabe got 21,127 votes, Tsvangirai 13,291, while 9,166 ballots were spoiled. Bulawayo is Zimbabwe’s second main city and an opposition stronghold.

Marwick Khumalo, a member of parliament from Swaziland who led a team of election observers from across the continent under the auspices of the AU-sponsored Pan-African Parliament, said: “The current atmosphere prevailing in the country did not give rise to the conduct of free, fair and credible elections.”

Mr Khumalo said some ballots were defaced with “unpalatable messages.” He refused to elaborate, but left the impression the messages expressed hostility toward Mugabe.

Mr Mugabe pressed ahead with the election, apparently hoping a victory would give him leverage at the negotiating table. But it now appears he will be able to draw little legitimacy from the runoff. It will be difficult for the AU to ignore such critical statements from its own observer teams.

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