AU calls for unity govt in Zimbabwe

SHARM EL-SHEIKH – The African Union yesterday called for a national unity government in Zimbabwe, summit delegates said, after the widely condemned re-election of President Robert Mugabe in a poll scarred by violence.

A summit of the pan-African body, which had been divided over what to do about Zimbabwe, adopted the resolution after Botswana called for the AU and southern African body SADC to bar Mugabe. It was the toughest public statement from one of Zimbabwe’s neighbours since Mugabe was sworn in on Sunday following a one-candidate election condemned by monitors and much of world opinion as violent and unfair.”In our considered view …the representatives of the current government in Zimbabwe should be excluded from attending SADC (Southern African Development Community) and African Union meetings,” Botswana Vice President Mompati Merafhe 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 be considered legitimate”.It said the government and opposition must be treated as equal in any mediation.Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga has also called for Mugabe (84) to be suspended from the African Union after an election which extended the veteran leader’s 28-year rule.The Botswana statement underlined the deep rifts both within Africa as a whole and among Zimbabwe’s neighbours.Regional power South Africa, the designated mediator in Zimbabwe, has resisted open condemnation of Mugabe.The AU summit in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh has been dominated by a deepening political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe, whose once prosperous economy is racked by the world’s highest rate of hyper-inflation.Mugabe addressed the final session of the two-day summit, senior delegates said.Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from the poll because of the violence, which he said had killed 86 of his supporters in the Movement for Democratic Change.Summit delegates said earlier the leaders were divided between those who wanted a strong statement about Zimbabwe and others who were reluctant to publicly censure Mugabe.* Meanwhile, the ruler’s spokesman yesterday said Mugabe would not step down and Western critics who called the country’s recent election a sham can “go hang”.Presidential spokesman George Charamba sounded resistant to proposals about sharing power.Some African leaders have expressed frustration that more was not being done to pressure Mugabe.Charamba told reporters that Mugabe would not step down.”Isn’t that an odd question.He’s a few days into office and you expect him to retire, do you? …Five days have expired, not even a week after….Why is the issue of the retirement of the president of Zimbabwe such an obsession for the West?” he said.”He has come here as president of Zimbabwe and he will go home as president of Zimbabwe, and when you visit Zimbabwe he will be there as the president of all the people of Zimbabwe,” Charamba told reporters.The United States, Britain and other European countries have widely condemned the runoff.The US is pushing for more financial and travel sanctions against Mugabe supporters and is urging the UN Security Council to impose an arms embargo.Charamba had harsh words for Western pressure: “They can go hang.They can go and hang a thousand times.”During public speeches at the summit’s opening on Monday, most AU leaders spoke of the “challenges” Zimbabwe is facing and none said anything harsh about Mugabe.Meanwhile, Egyptian security ramped up restrictions yesterday on journalists covering the summit after a British TV crew got into a verbal exchange with Mugabe the previous day.Many reporters were not allowed to leave the press area.The confrontation began when British network ITN approached Mugabe outside the conference hall and asked how he could regard himself as president.The Zimbabwean leader responded that it was on the same basis as Brown’s being the British prime minister.Mugabe then said the reporter asked “stupid questions”.TV footage showed Mugabe’s guards pushing the reporter away.Nampa-Reuters-APIt was the toughest public statement from one of Zimbabwe’s neighbours since Mugabe was sworn in on Sunday following a one-candidate election condemned by monitors and much of world opinion as violent and unfair.”In our considered view …the representatives of the current government in Zimbabwe should be excluded from attending SADC (Southern African Development Community) and African Union meetings,” Botswana Vice President Mompati Merafhe 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 be considered legitimate”.It said the government and opposition must be treated as equal in any mediation.Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga has also called for Mugabe (84) to be suspended from the African Union after an election which extended the veteran leader’s 28-year rule. The Botswana statement underlined the deep rifts both within Africa as a whole and among Zimbabwe’s neighbours.Regional power South Africa, the designated mediator in Zimbabwe, has resisted open condemnation of Mugabe.The AU summit in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh has been dominated by a deepening political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe, whose once prosperous economy is racked by the world’s highest rate of hyper-inflation.Mugabe addressed the final session of the two-day summit, senior delegates said.Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from the poll because of the violence, which he said had killed 86 of his supporters in the Movement for Democratic Change.Summit delegates said earlier the leaders were divided between those who wanted a strong statement about Zimbabwe and others who were reluctant to publicly censure Mugabe.* Meanwhile, the ruler’s spokesman yesterday said Mugabe would not step down and Western critics who called the country’s recent election a sham can “go hang”.Presidential spokesman George Charamba sounded resistant to proposals about sharing power.Some African leaders have expressed frustration that more was not being done to pressure Mugabe.Charamba told reporters that Mugabe would not step down.”Isn’t that an odd question.He’s a few days into office and you expect him to retire, do you? …Five days have expired, not even a week after….Why is the issue of the retirement of the president of Zimbabwe such an obsession for the West?” he said.”He has come here as president of Zimbabwe and he will go home as president of Zimbabwe, and when you visit Zimbabwe he will be there as the president of all the people of Zimbabwe,” Charamba told reporters.The United States, Britain and other European countries have widely condemned the runoff.The US is pushing for more financial and travel sanctions against Mugabe supporters and is urging the UN Security Council to impose an arms embargo.Charamba had harsh words for Western pressure: “They can go hang.They can go and hang a thousand times.”During public speeches at the summit’s opening on Monday, most AU leaders spoke of the “challenges” Zimbabwe is facing and none said anything harsh about Mugabe.Meanwhile, Egyptian security ramped up restrictions yesterday on journalists covering the summit after a British TV crew got into a verbal exchange with Mugabe the previous day.Many reporters were not allowed to leave the press area.The confrontation began when British network ITN approached Mugabe outside the conference hall and asked how he could regard himself as president.The Zimbabwean leader responded that it was on the same basis as Brown’s being the British prime minister.Mugabe then said the reporter asked “stupid questions”.TV footage showed Mugabe’s guards pushing the reporter away.Nampa-Reuters-AP