Mugabe Sworn In

Official results released on Sunday showed Mugabe overwhelmingly won the country's one-man election. Zimbabwe election officials said he received more than two million votes or about 85 percent of the vote. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who pulled out of the election amid mounting violence against his supports, received about 230,000 votes.

Turnout for the June 27 election was put at 42 percent. But reports have circulated that many Zimbabweans were coerced into voting and that Mugabe militias had applied scare tactics to anyone without the tell-tale purple fingertip proving a person had voted.

Europe calls vote a farce

The vote was widely condemned around the world. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier denounced the election as a farce considering Mugabe was the only candidate. In a statement issued after Friday's vote, Steinmeier said that Germany welcomed the fact that the United Nations Security Council was planning to discuss possible action against Mugabe's regime in the coming week.

Many Western leaders have urged the African Union to take action at a summit in Egypt on June 30 that was expected to focus on the Zimbabwe election crisis.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the African Union and the international community must work together to help bring stability to Zimbabwe.

The United States has called for drawing up sanctions against Zimbabwe. The European Union has said it will not rule out sanctions against "those responsible for the tragic events of recent months."

History of defiance

The 84-year-old veteran fighter disregarded the official results from the first-round election in March which put opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai ahead. Mugabe flaunted international criticism and pushed ahead with the vote, warning against outside interference in his country's affairs and shrugging off Tsvangirai's claims of violence.

He has also said the opposition will never come to power as long as he is alive, vowing to fight to ensure it does not happen.

The Zimbabwe opposition and western critics have said Mugabe is a dictator who has ruined a once prosperous country. They have sharply criticized him for applying suppression and violence against opposition supporters.

Little support in Africa

No African heads of state were present for the inauguration of Mugabe's sixth five-year term as president June 29.

The head of the Pan-African parliament mission told a news conference Sunday that the vote was neither free nor fair and fresh polls should be held.

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, among the Zimbabwean leader's most vocal critics on the continent, called on the African Union to send troops into Zimbabwe and labelled Mugabe "a shame to Africa".

Mugabe is Africa's oldest head of state and has ruled the former British colony uninterrupted since gaining independence from Britain in 1980.