G8 leaders may strongly condemn Zimbabwe: US

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE: The White House has said that G8 leaders are likely to "strongly condemn" Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and "strongly question" his government's legitimacy, at their Japan summit beginning on Monday.

Dennis Wilder, the National Security Council's senior director for Asia affairs, said yesterday that he believed that Zimbabwe would be condemned as part of the G8 leaders' official statement.

"I think the G8 will strongly condemn what Mugabe has done. It will strongly question the legitimacy of his government," Wilder said aboard Air Force One on the way to Japan.

Mugabe was inaugurated for a sixth term last Sunday, two days on from a run-off election in which he was the only candidate after main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out of the contest.

The Movement for Democratic Change leader had won the first round of the election in March but boycotted the run-off after nearly 90 of his supporters were killed in attacks he blamed on pro-Mugabe thugs.

Leaders of the eight major industrial powers, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States, meet starting on Monday at the Hokkaido resort of Toyako.