Whatever rhetoric on Zimbabwe's political crisis emerges from the African Union heads of state meeting in Egypt on Monday and Tuesday, reports on the meeting indicate a growing consensus around demands for a negotiated settlement setting up a transitional government incorporating both major parties.
Hurriedly installed as President of Zimbabwe within two days of a discredited run-off election, Robert Mugabe headed for the summit on Sunday night - showing signs he was under pressure to talk; at his swearing-in ceremony, he expressed hope of "consultations towards... serious dialogue" with other political parties.
The South African government said on Monday that Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma had told her counterparts in Egypt that neither of Zimbabwe's main parties - Zanu-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change - were able to "extricate Zimbabwe from the current impasse" on their own.
"Accordingly," the South Africans said, "both Zanu-PF and the MDC must work together and unite the country and its people behind efforts to find a common solution... Zanu-PF and the MDC must enter into negotiations which will lead to the formation of a transitional government that can extricate Zimbabwe from its current political challenges."
At the opening of the summit on Monday, the BBC reported that United Nations Deputy Secretary General Asha-Rose Migiro told Africa's leaders that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "urges your excellencies to mobilise support for a negotiated solution."
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The United States said much the same last week, when a State Department spokesman called for a negotiated "mutually agreeable political settlement."
Tanzanian Foreign Minister Bernard Membe told a news conference on Sunday night that the AU's Executive Council was making "specific recommendations" to the heads of state. There was no official word on what they were, but the Associated Press reported that a draft resolution written by foreign ministers "condemned violence in general terms and called for dialogue" but "did not criticize the runoff election or Mugabe."
Adding to pressure on Mugabe, observers from both the African Union and the Southern African Development Community have declined to give the presidential run-off a stamp of approval, the BBC reports. Under AU protocols developed in recent years, a finding that an election does not meet the union's standards is a potentially serious blow to an incumbent's legitimacy.
At issue in Zimbabwe, however, is whether a settlement is possible to achieve with Mugabe and Zanu-PF hardliners. The Americans are sceptical: the State Department said Mugabe "stands in the way" of a deal.
The key figure in any talks is MDC leader Morgan Tsvanagirai, considered by some lawyers as the person who should be President of Zimbabwe after winning the March 29 election.
Speaking to SW Radio Africa on Friday, he made it clear there was no question of the MDC being forced into a minority role in government. "How can the majority party accept to be junior partner?" he asked.
