"The secretary general notes that parliamentary voting held in Zimbabwe on 31 March was conducted peacefully, without the violence that has marred previous elections," Annan's spokesman said in the statement.
"He is concerned, however, that the electoral process has not countered the sense of disadvantage felt by opposition political parties who consider the conditions were unfair.
"He believes the government has a responsibility now to build a climate of confidence that will be essential for national unity and economic recovery in Zimbabwe," Eckhard said.
The US, Britain, Canada (!), and even the EU have refused to recognize the election as democratic. But Annan's response?
As the opposition pressed calls for new elections and reform, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan stepped in and called on Mugabe's government "to build a climate of confidence" to take the southern African country forward.
"He calls on all sides to engage in constructive dialogue in the period ahead," Annan's spokesman Fred Eckhard said in a statement released at UN headquarters in New York on Monday.
He wants the vote riggers to build a climate of confidence. I guess they'll have to stay in power to do that. Darn the luck. And he of course wants "all sides" to engage in constructive dialogue. Yep, those that were screwed over must sit down with those that did the screwing. I guess Kofi just wants them to sit and take it. And maybe even like it. Hmm, that is the UN style isn't it?
This refusal by the international community to call tyranny and evil what they are disgusts me. They pretend that murderers and criminals are statesmen. It is moral equivalence carried to degrees that no sane person can possibly maintain. I remain perplexed at how anybody can view this corrupt institution as the hope of mankind or whatever happy delusion is currently in fashion with UN supporters.
If Americans are from Mars and Europeans are from Venus, it stands to reason that some people are clearly from Uranus. Mugabe's thugs are clearly one contingent. The UN may be another.
