African leaders seek to end Zimbabwe crisis

A delegation of African leaders held separate talks with Robert Mugabe and Zimbabwe’s opposition leader today in an urgent round of shuttle diplomacy aimed at ending the political crisis that has plunged the nation into chaos.

South African President Thabo Mbeki, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and Malawi President Bakili Muluzi held closed-door talks for two hours at State House with President Mugabe, whose increasingly authoritarian rule has been blamed taking the country to the brink of economic collapse

The visiting presidents then returned to their Harare hotel without comment and met Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, for 90 minutes.

“It went well,” Tsvangirai said after the meeting. “The fundamental issue is, as a matter of urgency, Zanu-PF and the MDC must sit down and discuss. That’s what they will take up.”

Muluzi and Obasanjo headed back to State House for a further round of talks with Mugabe, while Mbeki left for a previously scheduled visit to Congo.

Mugabe said last month he would only meet Tsvangirai if the opposition recognised his re-election victory and dropped a court case challenging the result, conditions the MDC has previously rejected.

Mugabe, 79, who led the nation to independence in 1980, narrowly defeated Tsvangirai in presidential polls last year that independent observers said were deeply flawed.

The opposition, along with Britain, the EU and US, have refused to accept the results, saying voting was rigged and influenced by violence and intimidation mainly against opposition supporters.

The MDC has criticised African leaders for recognising Mugabe’s re-election amid state-sponsored political violence and shielding him from international censure.

Previous efforts by South Africa and Nigeria to mediate the crisis ended in a stalemate last year, but the situation has only grown worse.

Zimbabwe is suffering its worst economic crisis since independence. Inflation has soared to a record 228%, unemployment is nearly 70% and the nation is suffering acute shortages of hard currency, food, petrol, medicines and other essential imports.

The Herald newspaper, a government mouthpiece, said in an editorial today that Mugabe’s foes hoped the talks would lead to the leader’s retirement and implied the government feared a possible attack from US and British forces, an accusation both nations have repeatedly denied.

“There is trepidation about the timing of the visit in view of the pronounced positions of the British and American governments over regime change in Zimbabwe following their successful invasion and occupation of Iraq,” it said.