Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Wednesday the African Union (AU), backed by the United Nations, and should lead a transitional process in Zimbabwe following disputed elections and a wave of political violence.
Tsvangirai told a press conference: ”I am asking the AU and SADC [Southern African Development Community] to lead an expanded initiative supported by the UN to manage what I will call a transitional process.”
Tsvangirai spoke at his home shortly after leaving the Dutch embassy, where he took refuge on Sunday when he pulled out of Friday’s presidential election.
Tsvangirai told reporters that the ”time for action is now” from African heads of state on the political
crisis facing his country.
”This cannot be a part-time mediation effort,” he said. ”The time for action is now. The people in the country can wait no longer.
Crisis meeting
Meanwhile, Southern African nations on Wednesday started a meeting in Mbabane, Swaziland, on the Zimbabwe crisis without South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki.
King Mswati of Swaziland and Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete were at the meeting, said Tercy Simelane, spokesperson for Swaziland Prime Minister Absalom Themba Dlamini.
Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos or his Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi were expected at the meeting.
Mbeki is a mediator in the crisis between Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe and the opposition, but his spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga said Mbeki would not be going to Mbabane because had not been invited.
”President Mbeki was not invited to because he is not a member of the troika, but the door is open for him to attend as a mediator to the Zimbabwe crisis,” said Simelane.
A statement from the Tanzanian presidency on Tuesday had said Mbeki would attend the emergency meeting along with Kikwete and Zambian President and SADC chairperson Levi Mwanawasa.
On Tuesday, Mugabe’s government vowed to go ahead with a presidential run-off election on Friday despite the withdrawal of Tsvangirai.
The opposition pull-out has laid out a possible victory by default for veteran leader Mugabe, in power since 1980.
SADC is facing a storm of criticism for its failure to ensure transparent and violence-free elections in Zimbabwe.
Several Western nations, including Britain and the United States, have urged the world to isolate Mugabe and declare his presidency illegitimate if there is not a free and fair ballot.
‘Rigged election’
France warned on Wednesday it would not recognise the results of what it called the ”rigged election” in Zimbabwe.
”We will not recognise the legitimacy of the power that emerges from the rigged elections of June 27,” a foreign ministry spokesperson told reporters. – Reuters, AFP