Zimbabwe's Mnangagwa urges nation to move beyond elections

Zimbabwe's president has called on the troubled country to unite and "put the election period behind us and embrace the future" in his first public address since winning disputed elections.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa was speaking at the Heroes' Day holiday to commemorate the lives of those who died in the southern African country's 1970s war against white minority rule.

Mnangagwa was to have been inaugurated yesterday but swearing in ceremony was postponed because of the legal challenge to the election results lodged by the main opposition MDC party at the Constitutional Court.

The July 30 vote was largely peaceful and many had hoped it would usher in a new era but the capital was rocked by post-election protests in which the military opened fire, killing six people.