Kampala  - Uganda on Thursday joined an increasing number of African states condemning the situation in Zimbabwe and urged embattled President Robert Mugabe to halt election-related violence in the country.

"We strongly urge the government to exercise restraint and put an end to violence," the government newspaper New Vision quoted foreign minister Sam Kutesa as saying.

The UN Security Council and the regional Southern African body SADC have called on the Zimbabwean government to postpone the re-run scheduled for Friday.

However, Ugandan government spokesman and information minister, Ali Kirunda-Kivejinja said that there should be no foreign military interference in the country.

"The situation is bad but as far as we are concerned, the people of Zimbabwe should be left to solve their own problems," Kivejinja told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. )dpa)