HARARE, June 26 (Reuters): Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said Thursday there could be no negotiations with President Robert Mugabe if he went ahead with a one-man election Friday.
Tsvangirai said if Mugabe declared himself president and extended his 28 years of uninterrupted rule he would be shunned as an illegitimate leader who killed his own people.
Africa's most iconic figure, Nelson Mandela, added his voice to a storm of African and international condemnation of the violence and chaos in Zimbabwe, in a rare political statement that showed the level of concern around the continent.
Mugabe and his officials have remained defiant, however, saying the vote is a legal obligation.
Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga told al Jazeera television: "People are going to vote tomorrow. There is no going back." He said Tsvangirai should be out campaigning instead of trying to set conditions for Mugabe.
The opposition leader, who withdrew from Friday's run-off last Sunday and took refuge in the Dutch embassy, tried to step up the pressure by telling Mugabe that his chances of negotiating an end to Zimbabwe's catastrophic collapse would end Friday.
"Negotiations will be over if Mugabe declares himself the winner and considers himself the president. How can we negotiate?" Tsvangirai told London's Times newspaper.
In a later interview with Sky News, Tsvangirai challenged South African President Thabo Mbeki, the designated regional mediator in Zimbabwe, to take urgent action to end the crisis.
Mbeki, leader of Africa's biggest economic power, has been widely criticized for being soft on Mugabe despite a crisis that has flooded his country with millions of refugees.
Tsvangirai's lieutenant Tendai Biti was released on bail on Thursday after being held for two weeks on treason charges. Bail was set at 1 trillion Zimbabwean dollars -- about $90, his lawyer said.
Mugabe, president since independence from Britain, has presided over Zimbabwe's slide from one of the region's most prosperous nations to a basket case with inflation estimated to have hit at least 2 million per cent.
He blames the crisis on sanctions by Britain and other Western countries.
Mugabe is facing a concerted international campaign to push him into calling off the vote by threatening he will be shunned by the world, including African allies once over-awed by his liberation hero status.
Meanwhile, AP from Kyoto, Japan adds: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Thursday warned Zimbabwe's president against declaring victory in what she said will be an illegitimate run-off election this week.
With the opposition boycotting Friday's vote due to ruling party violence and intimidation, Rice said no outcome would be acceptable and that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe must allow a legitimate government to take power.
"This is not going to be a legitimate election, no one believes that it is going to be a legitimate election," she said.
Rice said the people of Zimbabwe must have a legitimate government and "it cannot be a legitimate government with the forces of President Mugabe doing the things that they are doing and then claiming an election victory."
