Mbeki says Zimbabwe stalemate not a crisis
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's election stalemate is not acrisis and its electoral commission must be given time torelease the results of a presidential poll held two weeks ago,South African President Thabo Mbeki said on Saturday.
Mbeki held an hour-long meeting with Zimbabwean PresidentRobert Mugabe, shortly before regional leaders meet in Zambiato discuss the deadlock resulting from elections on March 29.
The Harare talks were the first since the vote betweenMugabe and the leader of Zimbabwe's most powerful neighbour,who has been mediating between Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF and theopposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) since lastyear.
The MDC won a parliamentary election also held on March 29and claims victory in the presidential poll. It has gone tocourt to try to force the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC)to release the results, 14 days after the vote took place.
"I wouldn't describe that as a crisis. It's a normalelectoral process in Zimbabwe. We have to wait for ZEC torelease (the results)," Mbeki told reporters after the meeting.
Mugabe will not attend Saturday's Southern AfricanDevelopment Community (SADC) summit in Lusaka, called byZambian President Levy Mwanawasa to help end the impasse overZimbabwe's disputed elections and prevent the crisis fromturning violent.
Mugabe, aged 84 and in power since independence fromBritain in 1980, said he was not snubbing the summit, whichthree government ministers will attend.
"He (Mbeki) is going to the summit, I'm not ... We're verygood friends, very good brothers. But sometimes we also haveother business that holds us back," Mugabe told reporters.
He dismissed comments by Prime Minister Gordon Brown thatthe world was losing patience with him, saying: "If Brown isthe world, sure, he will lose patience. I know Brown as alittle tiny dot on this planet."
There were no immediate details of the meeting betweenMugabe and Mbeki but a senior Zimbabwean official said theSouth African leader had asked for a briefing on politicaldevelopments following the elections.
Mbeki met MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Thursday todiscuss the crisis, but no details of their talks wererevealed.
Zambia's Foreign Minister Kabinga Pande called ahead of theSADC meeting for the election results to be released.
"Zambia's position is that the election results must bereleased and thereafter it will be decided what next," he toldReuters in Lusaka.
DICTATORSHIP
Tsvangirai has been invited to Lusaka to explain hisstance.
"No decision can be made without hearing both sides sincethere is a stalemate," Pande said.
MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti said the party will tellthe summit to stand up to Mugabe, still seen as aliberation-era hero by many Africans. "We'll be telling theleaders that they must stand up against the dictator. They mustbe strong and stand up against dictatorship," Biti said.
The 14-member SADC has long been seen as toothless in itsresponse to Zimbabwe's political and economic problems.
Last year it delegated Mbeki to oversee negotiationsbetween ZANU-PF and the MDC to try to ensure a fair and freeelection, but the talks failed, prompting criticism of SADC andof Mbeki's policy of "quiet diplomacy".
The summit appeared to be the best chance to dissuadeMugabe from launching another crackdown on the opposition.Dozens of MDC activists and supporters were beaten by policelast year in an abortive anti-government protest in the capitalHarare.
Zimbabwean police have banned political rallies, includingone planned by the MDC for Sunday, while the opposition hascalled for an indefinite general strike to begin on Tuesday.Both parties accuse the other of preparing for violence.
An estimated one-quarter of the population has fledZimbabwe, once described as southern Africa's breadbasket, toescape hyper-inflation of more than 100,000 percent, chronicshortages of food and fuel and 80 percent unemployment.
Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said onFriday that Zimbabwe "now stands on the brink".
"SADC must insist that a peaceful and just solution befound to resolve the political crisis in Zimbabwe," he said.
(Reporting by Cris Chinaka, MacDonald Dzirutwe, NelsonBanya, Stella Mapenzauswa, Muchena Zigomo, Serena Chaudhry andShapi Shacinda in Lusaka and Sue Thomas in Johannesburg;Writing by Marius Bosch; Editing by Catherine Evans)