Harare: Zimbabwe resembles a war-zone, with thousands of people displaced, hundreds injured and 10 killed by post-election violence, an opposition leader said today as he appealed for international intervention.

Tendai Biti, secretary-general of the Movement for Democratic Change, said violence since March 29 elections had forced 3,000 families out of their homes. Hundreds of people had been hospitalised with injuries and 10 people killed.

Biti said UN organisations present in Zimbabwe must be mobilised as the situation had escalated from a political crisis to a humanitarian one.

"They should move as a matter of urgency. They should move because Zimbabwe is a war zone," he told a news conference in Johannesburg, South Africa.

He said key members of the opposition's administration had been arrested, along with more than 400 supporters.

"We are not able to function because of those arrests," he said. Biti and Movement for Democratic Change President Morgan Tsvangirai say they cannot return to Zimbabwe as they face immediate arrest.

President Robert Mugabe's government has accused Tsvangirai of treason and plotting a regime change with former colonial power, Britain.

Tsvangirai is widely believed to have beaten President Robert Mugabe in the elections, but the results still have not been announced after three weeks.

Electoral officials began recounting ballots yesterday for a couple of dozen legislative seats being challenged-- an exercise that could overturn the opposition's majority win.
Source : PTI