The African Union on Monday joined a chorus of international concern and dismay over the withdrawal of Zimbabwe’s opposition from a presidential run-off because of severe pre-election violence.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Sunday pulled out of the June 27 poll, saying supporters of his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would risk their lives by voting because of brutal attacks by supporters of President Robert Mugabe.
Mugabe, 84, who has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980, has vowed never to hand over to the opposition, branding them puppets of the West. He denies his supporters are responsible for the violence.
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said Tsvangirai would lobby the international community, particularly the African Union (AU) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) to put pressure on Mugabe to resolve an economic and political crisis which has sent millions of refugees fleeing into neighbouring countries.
Reaction was swift from Jean Ping, the AU’s top diplomat.
”This development and the increasing acts of violence in the run-up to the second round of the presidential election, are a matter of grave concern to the Commission of the AU,” he said in a statement.
Ping said he had started consultations with AU chairman Jakaya Kikwete, the president of Tanzania, with SADC and with that body’s designated mediator in the crisis, South African President Thabo Mbeki, to see what could be done.
Ping, the commission chairman, said Zimbabwe was at a critical point and called for restraint and an end to violence.
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, the current SADC chairperson, said on Sunday the run-off must be postponed ”to avert a catastrophe in this region.”
Embarrasment’
He said the Zimbabwe situation was ”of tremendous embarrassment to all of us”.
Zambian Foreign Minister Kabinga Pande said a SADC security troika of Angola, Swaziland and Tanzania would propose the next move by the regional body.
”The troika … should be meeting or are meeting to advise the next step,” Pande told Reuters.
Troika foreign ministers last week asked their presidents to take urgent action ”to save Zimbabwe”, saying a free and fair election was impossible.
The Angolan state news agency Angop said SADC foreign ministers were expected to meet in Luanda on Monday to discuss Zimbabwe and regional security.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said it was still looking forward to a credible electoral process on Friday.
”I don’t believe that the level of violence in the country is such that a credible election is impossible. We don’t have a war. We will be able to hold credible elections,” ZEC chairperson George Chiweshe told African election monitors in Harare. Former colonial power Britain urged tough international action to end what it called Zimbabwe’s tragedy and said pressure from African leaders was vital.
”They now have to come out decisively and I think there’s a hope they will,” Africa Minister Mark Malloch-Brown said.
He said there were many more sanctions which could be imposed to step up pressure on Mugabe.
Western countries have imposed limited sanctions on Zimbabwe’s leadership.
The former guerrilla commander has presided over a slide into economic chaos, including 80% unemployment and the world’s highest inflation rate of at least 165 000%.
Mbeki, widely criticised for his quiet diplomacy on Zimbabwe, said he would encourage Mugabe and Tsvangirai to discuss the crisis.
”From our point of view it is still necessary that the political leadership of Zimbabwe should get together and find a solution to the challenges,” he said on Sunday.
But Malloch-Brown said: ”I don’t think President Thabo Mbeki’s approach is one that is at this point shared by all African leaders”.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said his government was looking at ways to increase sanctions.
The MDC says violence by Mugabe’s Zanu-PF and its militia allies has killed 86 people and displaced 200 000.
Once Tsvangirai officially pulls out, Mugabe would then be sworn in for another five-year term. But he could face difficulties governing as the MDC won control of the Parliament in a March election.
Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in a March 29 vote but failed to win the absolute majority needed to avoid a second ballot. – Reuters