Officials release 1st result in Zimbabwe election recount

Nearly four weeks after the unresolved presidential election, a state-run newspaper said Wednesday that a national unity government led by longtime leader Robert Mugabe could end Zimbabwe's deepening political and economic crisis.

In a prominently displayed editorial in the Herald, considered a government mouthpiece, columnist Dr. Obediah Mazombwe called a unity government "the most viable and safest way forward."

He said regional leaders, along with "the progressive international community," could bring together key players: Mugabe's party, the opposition, former colonial ruler Britain and the United States.

"The West, particularly the Anglo-American establishment, should stop insisting that President Mugabe and ZANU-PF cannot be part of a future prosperous Zimbabwe," Mazombwe said.