Harare — The South African president, Thabo Mbeki, and Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo, completed separate talks with the Zimbabwean leader, Robert Mugabe, and the defeated opposition challenger Morgan Tsvangirai on Monday, but revealed little about the immediate outcome of the meetings.
Mbeki and Obasanjo are trying to broker a compromise, amid the continuing controversy over the disputed presidential election, whose results, giving Mugabe a fifth term in office, are contested by the opposition. The two African leaders appealed to both sides to put aside their political differences, put Zimbabwe first and make the country's economic challenges their priority.
They flew into Harare for scheduled talks with Mugabe in the morning, followed by lunch at State House and a separate shorter meeting with Tsvangirai in the afternoon. There were no official details about the agenda, though there has been widespread talk of Mbeki and Obasanjo pressing the Zimbabweans to accept a coalition government to help ease the political tension and take the country forward.
Obasanjo told reporters he and Mbeki had discussed their proposals with Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, led by Tsvangirai but he did not disclose the detail of their recommendations. He said the two sides in Zimbabwe's political crisis had to work together to cooperate, so that they could salvage the economy and ensure international support.
The Nigerian leader said Zimbabwe would fail to secure global assistance if it did not unite. "Whatever the ordinary people of Zimbabwe have done, voted or not voted, they need to be assisted, they need to be helped and that help may not come unless the leaders of Zimbabwe put all their hands together and work together," said Obasanjo.
"We heard the views of both sides and we are going to digest the views they have given to us. They are going to digest our own views that we have given to them and I believe that some of the ideas and points we have left behind will have to discussed at their party level. In a matter of days they should let us know where we stand and where they stand," concluded the Nigerian leader.
Mbeki told a news conference after the talks with Tsvangirai, that Zimbabwe's leaders would have to solve the country's problems themselves: "This responsibility lies first and foremost and principally on the leadership of Zimbabwe. It's really in that sense, that the Zimbabwean leadership, itself, has to set its own agenda about what it wants to discuss. That's the approach that we have taken. We have heard what they have to say. We will hear from them. They themselves must answer the question to say what are the matters that we are going to discuss."
Obasanjo and Mbeki said they would wait for Mugabe and Tsvangirai to report back to them, but did not say precisely when this would be.
It may be premature to call the talks in Harare inconclusive. But by leaving the ball in the Zimbabwean court in this way, the South African and Nigerian leaders can buy a little more time as they head to London for a meeting on Zimbabwe with the Australian prime minister, John Howard on Tuesday. Howard is the third member of a troika established at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in early March to assess the situation in Zimbabwe and the conduct of the elections.
South Africa and Nigeria are due to convey the impressions of their Harare meetings to Howard, who has described this period as "the moment of truth" for both Zimbabwe and Commonwealth. The three will then report to the Commonwealth secretary-general, Don McKinnon, pending a decision on Zimbabwe's fate in the organization - action which could range from maintaining the status quo to suspension, sanctions or expulsion.
A number of Western countries, led by Britain, called for Zimbabwe's suspension from the 54-member Commonwealth, but the move was rejected and strongly criticized by most African countries in the organization.
Mugabe appeared to offer an olive branch to the opposition in his inaugural speech on Sunday after being sworn in as president. But Mugabe did not refer specifically to a joint administration that would include the opposition MDC.
Tsvangirai has made it clear that he wants the Zimbabwean president to step down as a precondition for any negotiations. The MDC says Mugabe stole the elections by widespread rigging and disenfranchising of opposition voters.
After attending the swearing-in on Sunday, the Mozambican and Malawian presidents, Joaquim Chissano and Bakili Muluzi, met Tsvangirai and urged him to work with Mugabe, saying that Zimbabwe's national interest must come first.
"One essential thing that he (Tsvangirai) told us is that he would not do anything which would jeopardize the Zimbabwean people. He said that there is a government, although he doesn't agree with the (election) outcome and it is the responsibility of the government to lead the country," said Chissano.
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State-owned television said Muluzi, who is the current chairman of the Southern African Development Community, SADC, told Tsvangirai he was first and foremost a Zimbabwean who should have the national interest at heart, and must realize that sanctions were detrimental to the country. Muluzi said the opposition leader must "work for the transformation of Zimbabwe, otherwise Zimbabweans would be the ones to lose."
As the South African and Nigerian delegations were trying to make peace between the government and the opposition in Zimbabwe, it was reported that a white farmer, Terry Ford, was killed overnight, at his homestead in Norton, about 40km north of Harare.
The Commercial Farmers' Union said Ford, 55, was found shot through the head in an attack reported to be the work of war veterans' who have spearheaded the land seizure campaign in Zimbabwe. Ford was the eleventh farmer to lose his life since farm occupations began two years ago.
Zimbabwe state television reported on the death of the white farmer at the tail end of its one-hour main evening news. It spent the first half hour on a comprehensive review of the peace mediation efforts by the continental leaders.
