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Zimbabwe: Mbeki Meets AU Chair Over Crisis
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SW Radio Africa (London)
18 July 2008
Posted to the web 18 July 2008
Lance Guma
There was a flurry of diplomatic activity in South Africa as President Thabo Mbeki met African Union Commission chairman Jean Ping in Pretoria Friday to discuss the Zimbabwean crisis.
The MDC this week refused to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Zanu PF, citing ongoing state-sponsored violence and the need for an expanded mediation effort, which had been endorsed by the AU. Mbeki's discussions with Ping were behind closed doors and it remained unclear whether any announcement would be made. Mbeki also met with the United Nations' special representative to Zimbabwe, Haile Menkerios.
On the same day foreign ministers from Tanzania, Swaziland and Angola, who make up the SADC troika on politics, defence and security, met in Durban to consider, among other issues, the Zimbabwe crisis. A group of Zimbabwean activists demonstrated at the venue of the meeting. They held placards written, 'A Brave Africa can Save Zimbabwe,' and wore white t-shirts splattered with red ink to symbolize the bloodshed in Zimbabwe. After the two day meeting the troika is expected to prepare a report that will be forwarded to Angolan President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, the current chair of the troika. The report will then be presented to the SADC summit in August in South Africa.
Insiders in the MDC told Newsreel that talks with Zanu PF were on hold, pending the outcome of the two separate meetings taking place in South Africa. The party received assurances from the AU that a high profile envoy will be dispatched to assist Mbeki who was chosen by SADC as the mediator on the Zimbabwe crisis, but is yet to deliver anything of substance to the process. Mbeki has shown an over-whelming bias for Mugabe and Zanu PF, while helping to shield the Zanu PF leader and his cronies from United Nations targeted sanctions and other forms of criticism.
The MDC official said 'something must be done to restore the integrity of the process; otherwise we are up the garden path to nowhere again.'
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As if right on cue, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who now leads the Africa Progress Panel, is reported to have called on Mbeki to ensure a speedy and robust resolution to the crisis. Annan was very blunt in his assessment saying, 'Zimbabwe shames most Africans.' After helping to end the political violence in Kenya, via a government of national unity, Annan seemed to indicate he might be willing to help end the crisis if asked to do so. He told the UK Observer newspaper, 'Of course I would help because I am an African. I have talked to people involved and I would of course offer advice and my services.'
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