Zimbabwe's opposition on Sunday accused the authorities of waging a war for power that has killed 10 people and forced thousands to flee their homes since parliamentary and presidential elections.

"Ten people have so far been killed in Zimbabwe since 29 March. The situation in Zimbabwe is desperate," Tendai Biti, secretary general of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, told reporters in Johannesburg.

Biti said hundreds of homes had been burnt and 3000 families been displaced by the election-related violence. He also said that more than 400 MDC activists had been detained since the vote.

"There is a war in Zimbabwe being waged by (President Robert) Mugabe's regime against the people. The regime has unleashed violence on the people," Biti said, appealing for foreign intervention in the crisis.

He alleged that 84-year-old Mugabe, a former guerrilla leader and hero of the national war of liberation, was now suffering from "senile dementia" and was "completely dislocated from reality."

Officials could not be immediately be reached for comment and Biti's claims could not be independently verified. Many foreign journalists have been barred from entering Zimbabwe.

The parliamentary and presidential elections, both held on the same day, have racked up tensions between the opposition and the government in Zimbabwe, which is already gripped by a grave economic crisis.

In a speech on Friday, Mugabe accused Zimbabwe's former colonial master, Britain, of stirring up unrest in the country. He has previously dimissed opposition claims of human rights abuses.

Speaking in Harare on Sunday, MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said the 10 people killed were all members of the MDC and that the attacks on them were carried out by supporters of the ruling Zanu-PF party.

"The police have been turning a blind eye," Chamisa said. Opposition campaigners earlier said two people had been killed in violence linked to the elections and a lawyer for the MDC said on Sunday that at least 75 activists were currently in detention.

Several international human rights groups have accused the authorities of violence. New York-based Human Rights Watch on Saturday said opposition supporters were being rounded up and tortured in special camps.

Biti on Sunday also alleged that the government was engaging in a policy of "deliberate starvation," cutting off food supplies to three regions seen as strongholds for the opposition: Masvingo, Manicaland and Mashonaland West. The MDC scored a historic victory in the parliamentary elections, taking the majority from Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) party for the first time since independence in 1980.

The MDC says that its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, also won a presidential vote against Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe since independence. The official results of the presidential vote have still not been released.

The European Union and the United States have urged Zimbabwe to issue the results as soon as possible.

South Africa, the main regional power, has joined these calls but has been widely criticised for taking a cautious approach to the stand-off. EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel called on African leaders Sunday to seek a solution to the Zimbabwe crisis.

The 14-nation Southern African Development Community "SADC is the best partner to find a solution to the crisis", he said during a visit to Mauritius. "This is an African problem which must be settled by Africans. "We expect the leaders of the organisation to have the courage to make the right decision. This is a crisis."

Since MDC's victory in the legislature, electoral authorities have ordered a recount of ballots for both the parliamentary and the presidential votes in 23 out of the country's 210 constituencies — most of them won by the MDC. Officials said on Sunday that the recount, which began on Saturday, could take longer than the three days originally forecast.

The MDC has said the recount may take six days and has refused to recognise the result, which could hand victory back to Zanu-PF. Biti said the recount was "illegitimate" and "shameful," adding: "The dictatorship will do everything, legally and extra-legally, to try and reverse the people's electoral victory of 29 March." Meanwhile, CNN reported on Saturday that a Chinese ship carrying arms destined for Zimbabwe was headed for Angola after earlier being denied access to the South African port of Durban.

AFP