US Envoy: 'Tsvangirai Won'

After more than three weeks in which Robert Mugabe has failed to hand over results from Zimbabwe’s presidential election, a top US diplomat for Africa came out in support of his challenger today, the AP reports. “Morgan Tsvangirai won, and perhaps outright,” Jendayi Frazer said in South Africa. She also expressed concern over reports of violent reprisals against opposition supporters.

While Frazer came down hard on Mugabe and noted that Tsvangirai wouldn’t “need a government of national unity” if he indeed won more than 50% of the vote, she was also practical. “It is hard for us to accept any results as credible,” she said, and even though Tsvangirai won, “there may need to be a political solution, a negotiated solution.” (More Robert Mugabe stories.)