Consesa John
5 July 2008
Nairobi — Tanzania has said it does not recognise Mr Robert Mugabe as the President of Zimbabwe, with Foreign Affairs minister Bernard Membe describing last week's run-off as "a highly flawed election".
Mr Membe told a press conference in Dar es Salaam on Friday that the run-off on June 27, in which the embattled Mugabe was declared President, was declared null and void by the Africa Union during the recent summit held in Egypt.
In response to a question by a reporter to state Tanzania's perception of Mugabe, who won the controversial elections boycotted by opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, the Foreign Affairs minister retorted: "There is no question on that because if you accepted reports of election monitors, the matter of whether we recognise Mugabe or not does not arise. That election was not recognised."
Stated position
Tanzania government's stated position is significant coming from a country whose President Jakaya Kikwete is the current chairman of the African Union.
It is likely to receive endorsements by governments of the 54-member union in line with international position taken by the United Nations to isolate Mugabe.
Mr Membe said election monitors from the South African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU) and the Pan African Parliament all gave verdicts that cast doubts about the credibility of the elections.
He said a campaign of violence and exclusion made it impossible for a free and fair election.
"The decision not to recognise the Zimbabwe elections has been endorsed by AU and SADC after adopting the monitors' reports," Mr Membe, who is also the chairman of the AU Foreign Affairs ministers, said at the briefing, just a day after returning into the country from the Egypt summit.
He said during the summit, no Africa head of state supported the Zimbabwe election nor extended a congratulatory message to Mugabe.
Mugabe defied world condemnation, including those by his fellow African peers to press on with violence-hit elections and immediately flew to attend the Egyptian summit as head of state.
"There was no one in the Summit who was happy with what happened in Zimbabwe and also no one congratulated Mugabe for being the president. All the members condemned what happened in Zimbabwe," said Mr Membe.
"This was like a football match where a player touches the ball and scores but unfortunately the referee allows it. It is not a goal scored in the normal way," he said.
Membe said over 413 observers who participated in the elections helped AU and SADC to reach a verdict.
He said the AU mandated SADC to immediately steer a process that would bring together Mugabe's Zanu-PF and MDC leaders to broker peace and form a government of national unity.
An urgent meeting of regional leaders would soon be held to review progress made in the process, he stressed. "No one party will be able to govern in Zimbabwe as things stand now. Zanu-PF cannot rule alone and negotiations will be the only way out," said Membe.
During the Egypt summit, Membe said President Kikwete told Mugabe on his face that he should go and think on what the summit had decided.
As Membe spoke, international pressure was mounting with UK and Germany indicating stern measures and sanctions could be effected to push for an inclusive government in Zimbabwe.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said there was widespread agreement that action must be taken to change the status quo in Zimbabwe, possibly with the help of a peacekeeping force.
"Virtually the whole international community is saying the status quo cannot continue. MDC has got to be recognised for the electoral support it had," Brown told a group of cross-party British lawmakers.
"There will be no support for this regime until democracy is restored. We will intensify the sanctions unless action is taken to change the status quo," he said.
Brown said the second election was a "travesty of justice and during that election the regime has blood on its hands for what has happened".
Leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised nations will discuss sharpening sanctions against Zimbabwe at a summit in Japan next week, a senior German government official said on Thursday.
"Britain is pushing for a separate statement on this," said the official, who was speaking to reporters in Berlin and asked not to be identified by name.
G8 leaders
Britain wanted G8 leaders to emphasise in the statement that they did not recognise the re-election of President Robert Mugabe and to include a section saying that tighter sanctions should be considered, the German official added.
Mugabe was re-elected at the weekend in a vote that was boycotted by the opposition and widely condemned by world leaders.
The United States is pushing for tougher sanctions against Zimbabwe's leadership through the United Nations, but UN Security Council diplomats say South Africa, Russia and China oppose Washington's plans.
A US-drafted resolution seen by Reuters on Wednesday includes asset freezes and travel bans for officials including Mugabe and the central bank chief.
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KATZ!!!..... Obviously you are not African but claim to be an expert on Afrika just as Dr David Livingstone did.What do think about whats going on between the Sons of Jacob (Israelis) and the Palastineans? Are you afraid of the brother JEWS who might object and come down on you like a ton of cement? More seriously, it is you who is a DINASAUR a remnant of the days Europens could do as they like.Today, they wont dare, not even in Khama's Botswana. They have to tread carefully.
Akapfunde - I am not a great supporter of conspiracy theories so I am unable to answer your question about 'the Sons of Jacob and the Palastineans' (sic); however if my thinking as a dinosaur aligns me with Botswana, Tanzania, Senegal, Kenya, Zambia and others that will not accept the sham of Mugabe's presidency then I am quite happy to be in their company.
Man... you are just a trouble maker and a war-monger. You are only qualified to act as an Inspector-General in Africa and emit out opinions on everything African on behalf of Europe. You are not even ashamed of encoraging the start of wars and conflicts. Were you ever an African living in colonial southern Africa? I dont imagine things like you. l had first hand experience of racist, abusive and oppressive governance. I say "SHUT UP". You dont know what you are talking about. You remind one of a persistent fly .....
Akapfunde, you have no class. This is not a Mugabe owned site where people are bullied, told to shut up and have no voice. There is freedom of speech here without abuse. You are obviously a fat liar about experiencing racism and abuse. The way you carry on with no concern for the Zimbabwean victims of abuse by Mugabe and his dogs clearly shows you have NEVER experienced any hardships in your life or you would never, never support Mugabe. You continually chastise those who mean well for Zimbabwe. You are so brainwashed that you no longer know who is on your side because you have a one track mind of hate for anyone who does not worship your satan Mugabe. Mugabe has you whipped.
akapfunde1 - once again I ask - have you discontinued with your medication for some reason?
Akafunboy is just stupid. He has no idea. He thinks that the 1st and 2nd world wars were fought soley by Germany and England. Serously! He needs to go back to school and get an education before anyone can take him seriously. He is so dumb.
I am in love with democracy ... the USA type not the English type. The American democratic practicalities impressedme when lspent sometime in Ann Arbor in Michigan during the good fella's presidency,Ronald Regan. How lwish all African countries would engage USA approach to democracy. It may not be perfect but it is very close. By the way, l stillinsist that a fight between germany andthe English with their cousins in the diaspora eg New Zealanders and Rhodeisa, is not a world war.Besides shouting insults at me, you have said something tangible to convince me to join you. We have all been brain washed by our environment.ALSO, l know a lot of suffering is going on in Zimbabwe currently but l shall not accept that the death of Robert Mugabe shall bring to end all the suffering because Mugabe is just one portion of the Zimbabwean jigsaw. Look at Somalia, Syad Barre left and because the Somalis just followed external advice to chuck out their president without looking at the whole picture ....where is Somalia today? Of course Tsvangi has a right to be a president of Great Zimbabwe. It goes without saying that the country does not belong to ZANUpf. One has to sit and thnk out strategies to remove the current regime without loosing our sovereign governance. I do notunderstand people who just insult Mugabe using terms like idiot etc What do you achieve? Sometimes one has to get them thinking by contradicting them deliberately. I,too, have a lot to learn from some the sharper minds that Great Zimbabwe has spawned.
Very good indeed. Along side Botswana, Zambia, Senegal and Kenya there is now Tanzania who is prepared to remind their fellow African states that both the SADC and AU observer teams declared the run-off election to be invalid and as such Mugabe is not the legitimate president of Zimbabwe.
The question therefore is what is it that makes the AU as a body so indecisive? It seems that the only option is for individual States to come out against Mugabe whilst ignoring the dinosaurs such as Bongo and Mbeki.