By Daniel Wallis
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - An African summitdivided over how to react to the widely condemned re-electionof Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, on Tuesday discussed aproposal for a national unity government, senior delegatessaid.
The African summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharmel-Sheikh has been dominated by a deepening political andeconomic crisis in Zimbabwe, whose once prosperous economy isracked by the world's highest rate of hyper-inflation.
Mugabe, who was addressing the final session of themeeting, attended the summit after being sworn in on Sundayfollowing a one-candidate election that African monitors saidwas plagued by violence against the opposition and was not freeand fair.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from the pollbecause of the violence, which he said had killed 86 of hissupporters in the Movement for Democratic Change.
Summit delegates said earlier the leaders were dividedbetween those who wanted a strong statement about Zimbabwe andothers who were reluctant to publicly censure the veteranleader, who extended his 28-year rule in Friday's vote.
The divisions looked likely to produce a RESOLUTION (RSL.LO)weakerthan wanted by some nations after the election provokedunprecedented African criticism and widespread internationalcondemnation.
Senior delegates taking part in a closed-door session saidthe resolution being debated would pledge AU support for talksbetween Mugabe and Tsvangirai.
It was submitted by a security troika of the AU, comprisingTanzania, Swaziland and Angola, which had called for the voteto be postponed.
Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma, a member of theWest and East African group most critical of Mugabe told BBCradio earlier: "The people of Zimbabwe have been denied theirdemocratic rights. We should, in no uncertain terms, condemnwhat has happened."
Koroma said the southern African group must engage Mugabeand Tsvangirai, who withdrew from the ballot because of attackson his supporters, in talks leading to a transitionalgovernment and fresh elections.
NO NEW MOMENTUM
But prospects the summit would give major new momentum tomoves to end the crisis seemed to be receding even before itsscheduled end on Tuesday.
Mugabe's spokesman rejected ideas being floated for aKenyan-style power-sharing deal and MDC Secretary-Tendai Biti,who was jailed for two weeks before the vote, said there was nochance of negotiations after Mugabe ignored a flood of appealsto call off the election.
Mugabe spokesman George Charamba told reporters: "Kenya isKenya. Zimbabwe is Zimbabwe. We have our own history ofevolving dialogue and resolving political impasses theZimbabwean way. The Zimbabwean way, not the Kenyan way. Not atall."
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change dismissed aSouth African press report that regional mediator PresidentThabo Mbeki was close to brokering a unity government deal.
Biti said the MDC had pursued dialogue before Friday'svote, but Mugabe's decision to go ahead "totally and completelyexterminated any prospects of a negotiated settlement."
He said there were no talks with Mugabe's ZANU-PF.
Mugabe threatened before the summit to confront his criticsand suggested he would point back at leaders who themselveswere in power undemocratically.
In a mark of the depth of divisions, Charamba accusedKenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga -- who has called for Mugabeto be expelled from the AU -- of having bloodstained hands fromthe crisis in his country, in which 1,500 people died.
"Odinga's hands drip with blood, raw African blood. Andthat blood is not going to be cleansed by any amount of abuseof Zimbabwe. Not at all," he told reporters.
Odinga joined a power-sharing government with PresidentMwai Kibaki under an AU-backed deal to end the Kenya crisis.
Tsvangirai had called on the summit not to recognise theelection.
The MDC wants the summit to appoint an expanded mediatingteam in Zimbabwe and a permanent envoy to replace Mbeki.
The South African leader has been mediating since last yearbut failed and is accused of being soft on Mugabe.
Mugabe was sworn in for a new five-year term on Sundayafter election authorities announced he had won more than 85percent of a vote which three African monitoring groups saidwas unfair.
Tsvangirai left the Dutch embassy in Harare on Tuesdayafter taking refuge for more than a week, the Dutch governmentsaid.
The summit is unlikely to back a U.S. push at the UnitedNations for sanctions against Mugabe, including an armsembargo.
So far only Western powers have imposed financial andtravel sanctions against the Zimbabwean leader and his topofficials.
China, which has long opposed U.N. sanctions, said onTuesday Zimbabwe must solve its own problems and showed noeagerness to endorse the U.S. moves.
The United Nations said Africa's credibility was at stakeover Zimbabwe. U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migirotold reporters at the summit, the AU must get its act together.
Charamba attacked Western nations who say Mugabe is anillegitimate leader. "They can go and hang. They can go to hanga million times. They have no claim on Zimbabwean politics."
(For further stories on Zimbabwe please click)
(Additional reporting by Cynthia Johnston and OpheeraMcDoom in Sharm el-Sheikh, Paul Simao and Marius Bosch inJohannesburg;
Writing by Barry Moody; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)
