Am guessing Mugabe may not leave the country until his final departure, or he may have something foisted upon him; absence does not always make the heart grow fonder.
"South Africa, the one country most likely to hold sway in Zimbabwe’s crisis, took pains on Wednesday to distance itself from the opposition. President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa had no plans to meet Mr. Tsvangirai, a spokesman for Mr. Mbeki said, although a spokesman for the opposition said Mr. Tsvangirai had requested a meeting."
Southern Africa leaders start Zimbabwe summit Reuters Published: Saturday, April 12, 2008
LUSAKA (Reuters) - Southern African nations began an emergency summit on Zimbabwe's election deadlock on Saturday but South African President Thabo Mbeki, their most powerful leader, said there was no crisis to address.
Zambia, chairman of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC), called the summit because of fears that a long delay in issuing results of a March 29 presidential election could spark serious violence.
"This extraordinary summit has been convened out of concern at the recent turn of events in Zimbabwe. This summit should focus on helping Zimbabwe to find an answer that genuinely reflects the mood of the people," Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa said in opening remarks.
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe (R) walks with South Africa President Thabo Mbeki on his arrival in the capital Harare April 12, 2008. Mbeki is in Zimbabwe for talks with Mugabe on the country's election deadlock, before a regional leaders meet in neighbouring Zambia to discuss the crisis. REUTERS/Howard Burditt
More pictures: < Prev | Next > .. heh, on mine, only if you enjoy a yo-yo .. inside ..
"SADC can no longer continue to stand by and do nothing when one of its members is experiencing political and economic difficulties," he said.
Mbeki, who advocates "quiet diplomacy" in Zimbabwe and last year led an unsuccessful SADC mediation attempt, seemed not to share the concern of Zambia and other neighboring countries.
Before the meeting he met Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, who is not attending the summit, in Harare.
"I wouldn't describe that as a crisis. It's a normal electoral process in Zimbabwe. We have to wait for ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) to release (the results)," Mbeki told reporters after meeting Mugabe for an hour.
The Movement for Democratic Change opposition won a parliamentary election on March 29 and says its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, also won a presidential poll on the same day.
But no results of that election have been released, stoking tension in Zimbabwe. Many Zimbabweans had hoped the vote would begin their recovery from economic collapse and the world's worst rate of hyper-inflation.
The MDC has gone to court to try to force the ZEC to release the results and a judge has promised a verdict for Monday.
Mugabe, aged 84 and in power since independence from Britain in 1980, said he was not snubbing the summit, which three government ministers will attend.
Election Officials in Zimbabwe Begin Partial Recount of March Vote.
Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/Associated Press Ballot boxes in Murombedzi, west of Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital. A partial recount of the March 29 election is under way.
By THE NEW YORK TIMES Published: April 20, 2008
Zimbabwe’s election officials, at the government’s behest, began a partial recount on Saturday of disputed election results, while a human rights group accused members of the ruling party of running “torture camps” to punish opposition supporters.
Zimbabwe Arms Shipped by China Spark an Uproar (April 19, 2008) http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/19/world/africa/19zimbabwe.html?ref=africa Rajesh Jantilal/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Church groups prayed in Durban, South Africa, on Saturday. They are opposed to an arms shipment destined for Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe’s election was three weeks ago, but presidential results still have not been released. Nonetheless, government officials insist there was vote tampering, and the recount in 23 of 210 constituencies could overturn the results of the parliamentary election, in which the ruling party lost control of the lower house of Parliament for the first time in 28 years.
Opposition leaders went to court on Friday to try to block the recount, saying the government had not applied for it within 48 hours of the vote on March 29, as prescribed by law. But they lost their case, and now opposition leaders fear the recount could be used to peel back their parliamentary victory.
Reports were mixed on Saturday about whether observers from other African countries were allowed to watch the recount, as the government had promised. According to Zimbabwe’s state-owned newspaper, one office where ballot boxes were being stored was attacked on Friday by a homemade bomb that did not explode.
The recount results are supposed to be released in a few days.
Zimbabwe has been swallowed by fear and uncertainty since the election. The leading opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, appeared to get the better of Robert Mugabe, 84, the liberation hero who has ruled this country since independence in 1980. Mr. Mugabe has presided over the collapse of the economy, which is racked by corruption, shortages and a yearly inflation rate of more than 150,000 percent.
Early, unofficial results had the opposition sweeping many of Mr. Mugabe’s allies out of Parliament and the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai leading in the presidential race. But it was unclear if Mr. Tsvangirai had passed the 50 percent mark. Now, many Zimbabweans fear that if a runoff is necessary, it will take place amid rising political violence.
On Saturday, Human Rights Watch issued a report accusing members of Mr. Mugabe’s party, known as ZANU-PF, of rounding up opposition supporters and bringing them to camps at night where they are beaten with wooden sticks and army batons.
“Torture and violence are surging in Zimbabwe,” said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch, in the report. “ZANU-PF members are setting up torture camps to systematically target, beat, and torture people suspected of having voted for the M.D.C. in last month’s elections.”
Human Rights Watch said it had interviewed more than 30 people who had been brutalized, and some Zimbabweans who recently fled to South Africa have said that some opposition supporters had been killed.
Kofi Annan, the former secretary general of the United Nations, on Saturday urged African leaders to step in and resolve the election crisis in Zimbabwe, warning that it posed a threat to neighboring countries.
“It is a rather dangerous situation, it is a serious crisis with impact beyond Zimbabwe,” Mr. Annan told reporters in Nairobi, Kenya. “We do have a responsibility to work with them to find a viable solution.”
Also on Saturday, a cabinet minister in Mozambique said a Chinese ship carrying arms to Zimbabwe was heading to Angola in hopes of docking there after being turned away from South Africa, according to Reuters.
The ship left South African waters on Friday after a court refused to allow the weapons to be transported across the country; an Anglican archbishop had appealed to the court to bar the arms shipment for fear the weapons would be used against Zimbabweans.
Paulo Zucula, Mozambique’s minister of transport and communications, said his country had not allowed the ship into its waters because it did not have “prior arrangements,” Reuters reported. The arms shipment was ordered from China before the elections.
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