By Cynthia Johnston
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - South Africa is close tobrokering a deal that would see Zimbabwean President RobertMugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai negotiate aunity government, a South African newspaper said on Tuesday.
The report came as African leaders prepared to discuss theZimbabwe crisis at an African Union summit in Sharm El-Sheikhamid calls for the continent to condemn Mugabe for holding aone-candidate presidential election marred by violence.
Mugabe, 84, was sworn in for a new five-year term on Sundayafter election authorities announced he had won a landslidevictory in a one-candidate presidential run-off ballot that wasboycotted by Tsvangirai.
African leaders are expected to push for talks on apower-sharing deal between Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF andTsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change.
South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has mediatedbetween the two sides for more than a year, is on the verge ofjust such a breakthrough, Business Day, a respected newspaper,said, citing unnamed sources.
"The plan involves getting Mugabe and Tsvangirai to worktogether to implement agreements between ZANU-PF and theMovement for Democratic Change made in January. These include anew constitution and other reforms," it said.
Mbeki spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga refused to comment onthe report. "We've been in talks with both parties. I can'ttalk about the specific details."
South Africa favours such an arrangement, which could bemodelled on the power-sharing deal that ended post-electionviolence in Kenya this year.
It could also avert a split in the AU, which appearsdivided over how to deal with Mugabe. Some nations, primarilyin east and west Africa, want the summit to take a tough standon the Zimbabwean ruler, while his closest neighbours opposethe move.
CALL FOR SANCTIONS
Most African leaders have trodden a fine line on Zimbabwe'spolitical crisis with only a few criticising Mugabe, still seenby many in Africa as a hero of the anti-colonial struggle.
The possibility of political violence in the aftermath ofthe election last week, however, has forced the AU to considerthe issue at the summit. Mugabe is among the leaders attendingthe meeting.
Jean Ping, chairman of the African Union Commission andAfrica's top diplomat, told journalists on Monday that theZimbabwe election would be discussed on Tuesday.
A senior delegate, however, told Reuters the leaders woulderr on the side of caution. "They will dodge the bullet. Theywon't expressly recognise him, but they won't kick him out ofthe session."
The summit is unlikely to back a U.S.-led push at theUnited Nations for sanctions against Mugabe, including an armsembargo. The United States and Britain have imposed financialand travel sanctions against the Zimbabwean leader and his topofficials.
Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe in the presidential vote onMarch 29 but failed to win an absolute majority.
The MDC leader reluctantly agreed to participate in theJune 27 run-off but pulled out less than a week before becauseof violence in which he said nearly 90 of his followers werekilled. He was arrested five times during the campaign.
Monitors from Zimbabwe's neighbours in the Southern AfricanDevelopment Community (SADC) and the Pan-African parliamentsaid the vote was undermined by the bloodshed and did notreflect the will of the people.
It is unclear whether a new round of talks between Mugabeand Tsvangirai would be any more fruitful than in the past. Theissue of who would lead a unity government could be aninsurmountable obstacle to an agreement.
Tsvangirai has called on the summit leaders not torecognise Mugabe's re-election.
Zimbabwe's electoral commission said Mugabe won more than85 percent of the vote, almost doubling his score in the firstround.
(Additional reporting by Dan Wallis in Sharm el-Sheikh,Paul Simao in Johannesburg; Louis Charbonneau at the UnitedNations; Writing by Paul Simao; Editing by Alison Williams)
