African summit pushes Mugabe to negotiate

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - African leaders onMonday pushed President Robert Mugabe to open talks with theopposition after he was re-elected unopposed in an electioncondemned as violent and unfair by the continent's ownmonitors.

Mugabe, 84, flew to an African Union summit in Egypt soonafter being sworn in for a new term, extending his unbrokenrule since independence from Britain in 1980.

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

The summit was opposed to Western demands for heftysanctions to punish Mugabe but was moving towards a clearconsensus on negotiations to end a deep and violent crisis inthe ruined country.

Regional power South Africa, a key player in the Zimbabwesituation, called for Mugabe's ZANU-PF and opposition leaderMorgan Tsvangirai's MDC to enter talks on a transitionalgovernment. Tsvangirai withdrew from the ballot because ofattacks on his supporters.

Pretoria is the designated southern African mediator inZimbabwe although President Thabo Mbeki has been widely accusedof being ineffective and too soft on Mugabe.

The statement was the first time South Africa has publiclycalled for a unity government and appeared to indicate the linethat the African Union will take. Any stronger measures arelikely to be blocked by divisions at the summit.

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

REGION DIVIDED

Conference sources said countries from east and west Africawanted to take a strong stand on Zimbabwe but Mugabe'sneighbours in southern Africa were divided.

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, Mugabe's biggest criticin the southern region, was rushed to hospital in Egypt justbefore the summit after suffering a stroke.

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, an outspoken critic ofMugabe, called in Nairobi for his suspension from the AU untila fair election was held. But President Mwai Kibaki toldReuters at the summit that negotiations for a unity governmentwere the only solution.

Like other summit leaders he said he was optimistic asolution would be found.

Asked if Mugabe would accept a deal agreed by the summit,Congo Republic's President Denis Sassou-Nguesso told Reuters:"We will persuade him to accept the solution that we willpropose. This is certain. We are invested in this."

Many African leaders have previously appeared over-awed byMugabe, long seen as a liberation hero. But the conduct of theelections provoked unprecedented criticism from within Africa.

Tsvangirai pulled out of the election because of violencein which he said nearly 90 of his followers were killed.

Monitors from both Zimbabwe's neighbours in the SouthernAfrican Development Community (SADC) and the Pan-Africanparliament said the vote was undermined by violence and did notreflect the will of the people.

Some of the summit leaders favour a power-sharing dealmodelled on one that ended a bloody post-election crisis inKenya this year.

Both Mugabe and Tsvangirai say they are ready forAfrican-sponsored talks although the issue of who would lead aunity government remains a possibly insuperable obstacle.

Tsvangirai called on the summit leaders not to recogniseMugabe's re-election, after electoral officials said he wonmore than 85 percent of the vote, in which he was the onlycandidate.

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

Tsvangirai won the first round of elections on March 29 butfell short of the majority needed for outright victory. He saidthat result should be the basis for negotiating a transition.

A group of eminent international personalities, includingthree Nobel peace laureates, backed Tsvangirai, calling on thesummit to reject the election because of the violence.

Both Tsvangirai and the group, known as the Elders, calledon the AU to appoint a special envoy to mediate in the crisis.

South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma saidZimbabwe was deeply divided and polarised after the election.

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

It said neither ZANU-PF nor MDC were "able individually toextricate Zimbabwe from the current impasse."

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

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has urgedinternational action against Mugabe's government, includingU.N.-authorised sanctions and an arms embargo.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon believes the electiondid not reflect the will of Zimbabwe's people and the resultwas not legitimate, his spokesman said on Monday.

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

(For further stories on Zimbabwe please click)

(Additional reporting by Gordon Bell in Johannesburg,Cynthia Johnston and Dan Wallis in Sharm el-Sheikh; Writing byBarry Moody; editing by Matthew Tostevin)