Robert Mugabe was sworn in for a sixth term as Zimbabwe's president Sunday, just hours after electoral officials said he won the country's widely discredited run-off election.

Robert Mugabe was sworn in at State House in Harare. (Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/Associated Press)

Dignitaries gathered in a red-carpeted tent as Mugabe swore to uphold his country's laws, before sitting down to sign documents amid cheers from his supporters.

Invitations for the inauguration went out even before official results from Friday's vote were announced on state television to extend Mugabe's 28 years of unbroken rule

The electoral commission declared that Mugabe won a total of 2,150,269 votes against 233,000 for opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who boycotted the election, but whose name still appeared on ballot papers.

Three months ago, after a five-week delay, results in the first round of voting showed Tsvangirai in the lead, but without an absolute majority.

Tsvangirai turned down an invitation from Mugabe to attend the ceremonies and said he would instead ask members of the African Union not to recognize Mugabe's re-election when they meet on Monday in Sharm el-Sheikh, Eygpt.

In recent days, African mediators have been pushing for Mugabe and Tsvangirai to negotiate a power-sharing agreement. A draft resolution written by AU foreign ministers during two days of talks before the summit condemned violence in general terms and called for dialogue, but did not criticize the run-off election or Mugabe, the Associated Press reported.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said on Sunday the African Union will lose credibility if it fails to isolate Mugabe.

"African states should impose sanctions against Robert Mugabe and his illegitimate government in Zimbabwe after the sham presidential run-off," the organization said in a statement.

African and other world leaders have condemned the election, in which Mugabe was the only candidate.

U.S. President George W. Bush said Saturday the United States was working on ways to further punish Mugabe and his allies. That could mean steps against his government as well as additional restrictions on the travel and financial activities of Mugabe supporters.

Bush also said he wants the UN Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Zimbabwe as well as travel bans on Zimbabwe government officials. The U.S. plans to introduce a resolution in the council this coming week, but it may be opposed by China, Russia and South Africa, which have all said the situation is an internal matter.

On Sunday, Foreign Affairs Minister David Emerson issued a news release, saying Canada condemned the actions of the government of Zimbabwe, rejected its election results and immediately implemented measures to restrict its relationship with Mugabe's government.

Those measures include:

• Restricting travel, work and study of senior Zimbabwean government, military and police officials and their families.
• Reconfirming Canada's long-standing policy against exporting military goods to Zimbabwe.
• Denying any aircraft registered in Zimbabwe permission to land in, fly to, or over Canada.

Canada will also summon Zimbabwe's ambassador to Canada to convey messages to her home government, Emerson said in the release.

Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, pulled out of the run-off last week because of attacks on his supporters, which human rights groups say have left more than 80 dead and 1,300 wounded.

Since then, he has taken refuge in the Dutch Embassy in Harare.

Mugabe has been accused of ruining Zimbabwe's economy in recent years and holding onto power through fraud and intimidation.

He has vowed to confront his critics at this week's African Union summit.

With files from the Associated Press