AU calls for Zimbabwe unity government
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - The African Union calledon Tuesday for a national unity government in Zimbabwe afterthe widely-condemned re-election of President Robert Mugabe ina poll scarred by violence.
A summit of the pan-African body, which had been dividedover what to do about Zimbabwe, adopted a resolution callingfor Mugabe to enter negotiations with opposition leader MorganTsvangirai, who withdrew from the election because of violence.
The resolution fell short of the much tougher statementwanted by some African nations but it was a rare AUintervention in an internal political dispute and anunprecedented rebuff to Mugabe, previously feted as aliberation hero.
Before the two-day summit ended, Zimbabwe's neighbourBotswana called for Mugabe to be barred from both the AU andsouthern African regional body SADC.
It was the toughest public statement from one of Zimbabwe'sneighbours since Mugabe was sworn in on Sunday following aone-candidate election condemned by monitors and much of worldopinion as violent and unfair.
"In our considered view... the representatives of thecurrent government in Zimbabwe should be excluded fromattending SADC (Southern African Development Community) andAfrican Union meetings," Botswana Vice President MompatiMerafhe said, according to a text of his remarks.
Botswana said Mugabe's participation in African meetings"would give unqualified legitimacy to a process which cannot beconsidered legitimate." It said the government and oppositionmust be treated as equal in any mediation.
Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga has also called forMugabe, 84, to be suspended from the AU after an election whichextended the veteran leader's 28-year rule.
DEEP RIFTS
The Botswana statement underlined the deep rifts bothwithin Africa as a whole and among Zimbabwe's neighbours.
Regional power South Africa, the designated mediator inZimbabwe, has resisted open condemnation of Mugabe. The summitcalled for SADC mediation to continue.
The AU summit in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh wasdominated by a deepening political and economic crisis inZimbabwe, whose once prosperous economy is racked by theworld's highest rate of hyper-inflation, food and fuelshortages and 80 percent unemployment.
Mugabe addressed the final session of the two-day summit,senior delegates said.
Tsvangirai withdrew from the poll because of the violence.He said Mugabe loyalists had killed 86 of his supporters in theMovement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Summit delegates said earlier the leaders were dividedbetween those who wanted a strong statement about Zimbabwe andothers who were reluctant to publicly censure Mugabe.
The adopted resolution was submitted by a security troikaof SADC comprising Tanzania, Swaziland and Angola, which hadcalled for the vote to be postponed.
Negotiations look like being difficult despite the pressureapplied by the summit, which called on the two sides to refrainfrom action that "may negatively impact on the climate ofdialogue.".
Mugabe's spokesman rejected ideas being floated for aKenyan-style power-sharing deal and opposition Secretary-TendaiBiti, who was jailed for two weeks before the vote, saidearlier there was no chance of negotiations.
"Kenya is Kenya. Zimbabwe is Zimbabwe. We have our ownhistory of evolving dialogue and resolving political impassesthe Zimbabwean way. The Zimbabwean way, not the Kenyan way. Notat all," Mugabe spokesman George Charamba said.
Biti said Mugabe's decision to go ahead with the June 27election "totally and completely exterminated any prospects ofa negotiated settlement."
Biti added that no talks were taking place between theopposition and ruling ZANU-PF party.
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(Additional reporting by Cynthia Johnston and Daniel Wallisin Sharm el-Sheikh, Paul Simao and Marius Bosch inJohannesburg;
Writing by Barry Moody; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)