The call came in a statement issued late Thursday by the White House.
Zimbabwe was “in clear violation” of the election standards for the
Southern African Development Community (SADC) – the regional economic
and political grouping – the White House said.
 Decades-long Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe is trying to hang on to
power in a run-off election June 27 against opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai. His security forces re-arrested Tsvangirai again on
Thursday, along with the secretary general of the group, the Movement
for Democratic Change, Tendai Biti.
 “We believe the time has come for the United Nations Security Council
to take up immediately the issue to prevent further deterioration of the
regions humanitarian and security situation,” the White House press
secretary said in a statement.
 Earlier Thursday, the US accused the Zimbabwean government of
intercepting a shipment of food aid and dishing it out to ruling party
officials.
 Twenty metric tons of the food was taken off a truck near Bambazonke
and then given to Zanu-PF party officials during a rally on June 6, said
Gonzalo Gallegos, a US State Department spokesman.
 “What we had here was the Zimbabwe military and police officials
hijacking a truck that was carrying 20 metric tons of humanitarian food
aid that was directed for hungry Zimbabwean children,” Gallegos said. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Also on Thursday in New York, the top UN coordinator for emergency
humanitarian operations, John Holmes, raised alarm about the worsening
situation in Zimbabwe, saying the coming harvest would likely only cover
one-quarter of the country’s needs.
 Next week, Haile Menkerios, the UN undersecretary for political
affairs in Africa, plans to travel to Zimbabwe ahead of the run-off
elections on June 27 against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who
was re-arrested again Thursday as he was campaigning for office.
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