Published by the government of Zimbabwe
19 August 2008
Harare — REGIONAL and continental leaders have distanced themselves from MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai and accused him of lying to them about the political situation in Zimbabwe, with some of them apologising for their earlier positions on President Mugabe.
Leaders from Zambia, Botswana and Tanzania expressed "embarrassment" at having "blindly supported Tsvangirai" during the 28th Sadc Heads of State Summit in Sandton, Johannesburg, after South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki, who is facilitating talks between Zimbabwe's political parties, gave them a full briefing on what was taking place.
The biggest surprise, however, came from Nigeria, which sent a high-profile emissary to South Africa on Sunday to seek a meeting with President Mugabe and offer apologies for taking an "uninformed position" on Zimbabwe's electoral processes during the last African Union Summit in Egypt.
On Friday, soon after the official opening of the Sadc summit, President Mbeki, who took over Sadc's rotating chairmanship, presented to the Organ on Defence, Politics and Security a report on the talks and what had transpired since he was mandated to mediate in Zimbabwe from last year up to now.
New organ chief King Mswati III of Swaziland chaired the meeting.
It is understood that Botswana's Foreign Minister, Phandu Skelemani, who represented the country at the summit after President Seretse Khama Ian Khama boycotted in protest against President Mugabe's attendance, asked for more time to review the documents presented to him by the South African leader.
"The next day when the organ met again, he said he had spent the whole night reviewing the material and had not slept at all.
"He said his analysis of the situation was that Tsvangirai had misled them on Zimbabwe's political processes.
"He said they had been misinformed and were of the opinion that Tsvangirai should accept the agreement that President Mbeki had facilitated as it was quite reasonable. His exact words were, 'What more does Tsvangirai expect?' But we cannot order him to accept the agreement, all we can do is try and persuade him to see sense'," Skelemani said.
Botswana has been one of Zimbabwe's bitterest critics and stands accused of pushing a Western agenda to discredit the talks.
Zambia, represented by Foreign Minister Kabinga Pande owing to President Levy Mwanawasa's ill-health, also turned on Tsvangirai and said it was in the country's and the region's best interests for him to accept the agreement that President Mugabe and Arthur Mutambara have already given the thumbs-up.
President Mwanawasa has also been a Tsvangirai sympathiser but the information presented by President Mbeki and oral submissions made by Zimbabwe's political leaders have altered their views, the insiders revealed.
On Saturday morning, President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania is said to have apologised to President Mbeki for doubting his mediation of the dialogue process.
"President Kikwete said he was quite embarrassed by Tsvangirai's performance before the organ on Friday night where he demanded that Sadc leaders force President Mugabe to cede all executive powers. He apologised to President Mbeki and said his earlier position was not borne out of malice, but out of misinformation given to them by Tsvangirai."
On Sunday afternoon, a senior official in Nigeria's Foreign Ministry was spotted in Sandton.
Though the meeting organisers would not comment on his presence at the summit, The Herald is reliably informed that he was in South Africa seeking a meeting with President Mugabe.
President Mugabe told Nigerian Foreign Minister Chief Ojo Maduekwe at the AU Summit last month that he would check with President Umaru Yar'Adua whether the views the minister was presenting were from his president.
At that time, Nigeria was among few African countries that claimed Zimbabwe's electoral process was not credible and that Cde Mugabe was not the legitimate Head of State.
However, it is understood that at the weekend they wanted to personally meet President Mugabe and "offer their apologies" for taking an uninformed stand.
President Mugabe's team to the talks could neither confirm nor deny if the meeting eventually took place.
A Tsvangirai camp official said on Saturday their leader had received a message from Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga urging him to put his signature to the agreement for an inclusive Government.
"Odinga told him that after seeing the document, he was sure that Tsvangirai was being offered a lot by President Mugabe and it would be foolish to turn it down. Odinga said, 'Even I don't have that much power here'," the source said.
This comes in the wake of reports that the United States is also urging Tsvangirai to accept the deal though the European Union, led by Britain, remains hawkish.
Yesterday, Internet news websites reported that the MDC-T leader was embarking on a 10-day regional tour to try and spruce up his battered image.
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