U.S. envoy says Zimbabwe's Mugabe lost

PRETORIA, South Africa (CNN) -- A senior U.S. State Department official said Thursday she believes President Robert Mugabe lost the March 29 presidential election to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Jendayi Frazer, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Africa, told CNN on Thursday that she believes Tsvangirai, who heads the Movement for Democratic Change, was the clear winner of the election.

The results of the election have not been announced, and a recount is under way.

Frazer joins a growing chorus of international voices that have criticized the handling of Zimbabwe's presidential and parliamentary elections recently. Watch what she has to say »

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said the results have been stalled so Mugabe can "rig" the election. Jacob Zuma, leader of South Africa's governing party, has called the situation a "crisis." Human Rights Watch said Mugabe loyalists "are setting up torture camps to systematically target, beat and torture people suspected of having voted for the MDC."

But Frazer is one of the first U.S. officials to take such an emphatic stance on the issue. E-mail to a friend

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