SA President Thabo Mbeki told parliament on Wednesday that US Secretary of State Colin Powell had endorsed his handling of the crisis in Zimbabwe. “The secretary of state said to me that they themselves had been engaging the Zimbabwean government in a similar way as we had been, and would want to sustain the interaction, and we may refer to them the next steps we think should be taken with regard to Zimbabwe,” he said. Mbeki was responding to questions on his policy towards Harare, which has been criticised abroad and at home as too indulgent. “South Africa has never pursued a so-called ‘silent’ or ‘quiet’ diplomacy,” he maintained. “However diplomacy involving sensitive issues is out of the public eye by its very nature.” – AFP