African summit presses Mugabe to negotiate

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe came under pressure at an African Union summit to negotiate with the opposition after being re-elected in a one-candidate election condemned by regional monitors.

Mugabe, 84, flew to the summit in Egypt soon after being sworn in for a new term, extending his unbroken rule since independence from Britain in 1980.

As Mugabe arrived, the African Union's own monitors said Friday's election did not meet their standards. They were the third African observer group to condemn the poll.

Regional power South Africa, a key player in the Zimbabwe crisis, called for Mugabe's ZANU-PF and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC to enter talks on a transitional government. Tsvangirai withdrew from the ballot because of attacks on his supporters.

Pretoria is the designated southern African mediator in Zimbabwe although President Thabo Mbeki has been widely accused of being ineffective and too soft on Mugabe.

The statement was the first time South Africa has publicly called for a unity government and could indicate the line that the African Union will take.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi took a similar stance on Sunday. "There has to be some sort of negotiations between the parties," he said. "If not, polarisation will be the result."

Zimbabwe's crisis has ruined a once prosperous country, saddling it with the world's worst hyper-inflation and straining neighbouring nations, especially South Africa, with a flood of millions of economic refugees.

All eyes will be on how Mugabe is received at the summit after calls from Western powers, human rights groups and the opposition for African leaders to reject him as illegitimate.

Seen by many on the continent as a liberation hero, Mugabe is accustomed to standing ovations at African meetings.

UNPRECEDENTED CRITICISM

But his decision to go ahead with the election after Tsvangirai's withdrawal provoked unprecedented African criticism. Tsvangirai pulled out because of violence in which he said nearly 90 of his followers were killed.

Monitors from both Zimbabwe's neighbours in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Pan-African parliament said the vote was undermined by violence and did not reflect the will of the people.

Western powers say Mugabe is an illegitimate leader but summit leaders are expected to reject calls for hefty new sanctions on Mugabe and press for talks.

Some of the leaders favour a power-sharing deal modelled on one that ended a bloody post-election crisis in Kenya this year.

Both Mugabe and Tsvangirai say they are ready for African-sponsored talks although a tough question remains over who would lead a unity government.

Tsvangirai called on the summit leaders not to recognise Mugabe's re-election, after electoral officials said he won more than 85 per cent of the vote, in which he was the only candidate.

"We want them (the AU) to say the 27 (June) election is illegitimate," he told Dutch public television.

"We want them to say the 29th March election reflected the will of the people and that it should be the basis for negotiating this transition."

Tsvangirai won the first round of elections on March 29 but fell short of the majority needed for outright victory.

A group of eminent international personalities, including three Nobel peace laureates, backed Tsvangirai, calling on the summit to reject the election because of violence against the opposition.

Both Tsvangirai and the group, known as the Elders, called on the African Union to appoint a special envoy to mediate an end to the crisis.

The Elders include former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan who led negotiations that ended Kenya's crisis.

South Africa denied a newspaper report that Mbeki had lobbied the African Union to recognise Mugabe.

But Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma said Zimbabwe was deeply divided and polarised after the election.

"ZANU-PF and the MDC must enter into negotiations which will lead to the formation of a transitional government that can extricate Zimbabwe from its current political challenges," a foreign ministry statement said.

It said neither Mugabe's ZANU-PF nor Tsvangirai's MDC were "able individually to extricate Zimbabwe from the current impasse."

Analysts believe Mugabe ignored international condemnation and went ahead with the vote so he could negotiate with Tsvangirai from a position of strength.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has urged support for international action against Mugabe's government, including UN-authorised sanctions and an arms embargo.

State media in Zimbabwe said on Monday police had arrested 14 MDC activists, including a recently elected member of parliament, for carrying weapons and intimidating voters.

- Reuters