S Africa President Meets Mugabe, But Zimbabwe Opposition Snubs Him
Saturday July 5th, 2008 / 19h30
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AFP)--Thabo Mbeki, the chief mediator on the crisis in Zimbabwe, held his first talks with President Robert Mugabe on Saturday since his counterpart's re-election but was snubbed by the main opposition leader. Mbeki, president of South Africa, hoped for swift progress on a negotiated settlement but his optimism was undermined by the failure of Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, to attend the talks. Mbeki had a brief meeting with Mugabe before they were then joined by Arthur Mutambara, head of an MDC splinter group, in a move which will fuel speculation Mugabe is trying to cling to power by driving a wedge between the opposition. While the African Union has called for a national unity government, Mugabe has said he will only enter into dialogue as long as he is recognized as president after his re-election - an idea dismissed by the MDC. In brief comments to reporters, Mbeki said he hoped to meet with the MDC leader at a later stage but said the talks had still been worthwhile. "It was the view of the facilitators (mediators) and the Zimbabwean leadership that we need to move with some speed," said Mbeki, who is the region's long-time mediator between Zimbabwe's government and opposition. "We agreed that MDC-Tsvangirai has to be part of the negotiations, so we are hoping that the (negotiation) process will take place with them." Mbeki said he had decided to come to Harare partly as a result of a request from Tsvangirai, who has previously called for the South African leader to be axed as the region's mediator over his perceived bias towards Mugabe. Mbeki said that Tsvangirai had indicated he wanted to wait until the African Union could bolster the Mbeki-led mediation effort before meeting. Mugabe was inaugurated to a sixth term on June 29 after a run-off election in which he was the only candidate after Tsvangirai withdrew. The MDC leader won the first round in March but boycotted the run-off after nearly 90 supporters were killed in attacks he blamed on pro-Mugabe thugs. Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, found himself criticized by other African leaders for staging the poll but escaped serious censure from his peers at an A.U. summit in Egypt earlier this week. His Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa told reporters Tsvangirai had shown a lack of respect by staying away from the talks. "We are committed to dialogue with all the two MDC formations," he said. "But it was utter disrespect for Morgan Tsvangirai to agree last night ... to meet the facilitator here, and it is an act of utter disrespect for him not to have turned up." Mutambara, who has had a tempestuous relationship with Tsvangirai, also criticized the MDC leader for snubbing the meeting. "For these negotiations, for this political settlement to make sense, all political parties must be involved," he told reporters. "It is important that any discussions, any political negotiations are all-encompassing including all political parties in the country, and in particular including Morgan Tsvangirai." Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/al?rnd=oLhlF1Swjpe9PDvXCtID2A%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.
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