Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade has announced plans to visit Zimbabwe this month to suggest an African Union-led mediation process to President Robert Mugabe. Wade told a news conference in Dakar that he plans to go Zimbabwe in "two weeks time."

Wade's announcement follows a Washington, D.C. policy talk last Friday where Wade said he believes that "Africans did not help enough in Zimbabwe" and expressed scepticism over the prospects of a mediation process initiated in March by the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

The SADC appointed South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki to mediate between Zimbabwe's ruling and opposition parties. In a question-and-answer session following last week's talk, Wade said Mbeki cannot work alone to solve Zimbabwe's problems.

"Each time we talk about Zimbabwe issues… we say we are going to entrust this to Thabo Mbeki. Thabo Mbeki himself cannot do much for Zimbabwe. This is an issue for the African Union," he said. Wade added that Zimbabwe's history and politics have made the situation "too complicated for one single country to solve."

Wade emphasized the urgency in finding a solution. "The situation is deteriorating, [and] the population is suffering. "[Mugabe] says there is no famine but we know the conditions are very dire," he said.

It is not clear how or whether Wade's proposed AU-led process would relate to that launched by Zimbabwe's neighbours in SADC. There is a history of disagreement between Wade and Mbeki over issues affecting the continent: earlier this year, ahead of a G8 summit attended by Mbeki in Germany, Wade criticised the Mbeki-initiated New Partnership for African Development (Nepad).