LUSAKA (AFP) - A summit of southern African leaders called to discuss Zimbabwe's post-election crisis opened Saturday with a plea from its chairman not to ignore their neighbour's plight.

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With no result declared two weeks after Zimbabwe's presidential election, Zambia's President Levy Mwanawasa told the emergency summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) that doing nothing was not an option.

"SADC cannot stand by and do nothing when one of its members is experiencing political and economic pain. It would be wrong to turn a blind eye," he said, adding the summit was, however, "not intended to put President (Robert) Mugabe in the dock."

Mugabe -- accused by the opposition of holding back the result of the March 29 election and of leading a campaign of intimidation -- turned down an invitation to attend the summit.

Zimbabwe's opposition leader and self-proclaimed presidential victor Morgan Tsvangirai was, however, seated in the front row and could be seen smiling broadly amid a gaggle of photographers during Mwanawasa's opening address.

But is hopes that leaders might issue a hard-hitting statement and even put pressure on Mugabe to stand down were dealt a blow in the hours before the summit when South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki stopped over in Harare en route to Lusaka.

After his first face-to-face talks with Mugabe since the elections, Mbeki ignored pleas for outside pressure to be levied upon the veteran Zimbabwean leader and demanded that things be allowed to run their course.

"There is no crisis in Zimbabwe," he told journalists. "The body authorised to release the results is the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, let's wait for them to announce the results."

Mbeki, who was the chief mediator between Zimbabwe's governing ZANU-PF party and Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change in the build-up to the election, has come under fire for his policy of "quiet diplomacy".

Mugabe, alongside him, made no mention of the election, but denied he was snubbing the summit, saying, "We are very good friends and very good brothers. Sometimes you attend, sometimes you have other things holding you back."

The head of Mugabe's four-minister delegation in Lusaka had earlier dismissed the summit as unnecessary and angrily denounced the invitation granted to Tsvangirai.

"There is no need to regionalise the Zimbabwean crisis," Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa told AFP. "Inviting an opposition leader to a heads of state meeting is unheard of. We will not accept Tsvangirai to be part of this meeting."

Zambian Foreign Minister Kabinga Bande played down Tsvangirai's presence, saying he had not been "invited to attend the summit per se" and was only there in case SADC wanted to hear his side of the story.

Tsvangirai did not join SADC leaders and delegations when they went into a closed-door meeting after Mwanawasa's opening address. A statement from the regional leaders was expected at the end of their discussions later Saturday.

Southern African leaders have been heavily criticised over their traditional reluctance to speak out against Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for 28 years and is the oldest leader in the region.

Nevertheless many in SADC are fed up with the economic mess on their doorstep with inflation in Zimbabwe now well into six figures, unemployment at over 80 percent and average life expectancy down to 36 years of age.

Some three million Zimbabweans have left their homeland to find work or food, mostly to its giant neighbour South Africa.

Mugabe's ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) says neither the 84-year-old incumbent nor Tsvangirai won a clear victory in the election and insists the battle must go to a second round.

But the MDC accuses Mugabe of launching a campaign of intimidation and has ruled out Tsvangirai's participation in what it says would be an undemocratic second ballot.

"The military has basically taken over," MDC number two Tendai Biti, who is accompanying Tsvangirai in Lusaka, told journalists.

"There is a constitutional coup d'etat that has taken place there and that's why this meeting is very critical," he said, calling on SADC to "speak out clearly and decisively against his dictatorship and the status quo."

The opposition has called for a general strike to be launched from Tuesday, the day after a court is due to rule on an MDC bid to force the electoral commission to publish the presidential election result.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of former colonial power Britain, Mugabe's biggest bete noire, were among those who called for SADC to take a firm stand.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080412/ts_afp/zimbabwevote_080412174621

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080412/ts_nm/zimbabwe_election_dc_199;_ylt=Ahjjoe5v_2TFiQeA6gB9NRGGOrgF

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/world/africa/13zimbabwe.html?ref=world

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/article1035161.ece

http://howrah.org/World/9246.html

I wonder why Mbeki keeps on pandering to this demented geriatric.

He should simply call a spade a spade and deal with the problem. . .unless he wants even more Zimbabwean migrants streaming into the country.

This delay is the most ludicrous I have ever seen - why a 13 day delay in releasing election results

African leaders need to stop meeting to chit chat and MAKE decisions to change people's lives.

This is very typical of African leaders.

How can Mbeki say 'There is no crisis in Zimbabwe'?

It's either he was trying to be polite to his host, which i very much doubt

or he's simply burring his head in the sand.

mbeki is to mugabe, what blair is to bush. batman and robin

Only in Africa!!!!!!!


_{Ugly men!!!!!!}

I thought this Patrick Chinamasa lost his seat in the Parliamentary elections. . . .Make e go siddon for one one place.

But I was surprised if not shocked that no less than the AIDS-IGNORANT womanising President-in-waiting Jacob Zuma,
denounced the tactics of Mugabe and his cronies, while the academic Mbeki continues to tacitly support him.

Birds of the same feather no dey flock together again

debosky:

I wonder why Mbeki keeps on pandering to this demented geriatric.

He should simply call a spade a spade and deal with the problem. . .unless he wants even more Zimbabwean migrants streaming into the country.

This delay is the most ludicrous I have ever seen - why a 13 day delay in releasing election results

African leaders need to stop meeting to chit chat and MAKE decisions to change people's lives.

It is sad to see that Zim has broken Naija's "record" 11 day delay in releasing June 12 1993 election results before its annulment on June 23 1993.

Na so Mbeki deny say AIDS dey for im country even as 100s of thousands were dying after im talk sey na poverty dey cause AIDS no be HIV infection.
So no surprise if im talk sey political crisis no dey for Zim, especially as people no dey protest the delay or riot.
Moreover we should not ignore the old ANC ties to Mugabe in the apartheid/pre-independence era of their countries.

stillwater:

Only in Africa!!!!!!!


_{Ugly men!!!!!!}

LMAO!!!!

Zimbabwe’s main opposition Movement For Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangira is calling for mass protest today (Monday) across the country to press home the opposition’s demand for incumbent President Robert Mugabe to step down. The MDC has accused the government of an attempt to thwart its victory in the March 29 election in order to force a run-off. The MDC has also expressed dissatisfaction with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s refusal to release results of the presidential election more than two weeks after the vote, saying it will legally challenge the commission’s plan for a partial poll recount.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe High Court is due to rule today on the opposition MDC’s application to force the electoral commission to announce the results of the presidential election.

Mark Fungano is a Zimbabwean political analyst with the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He tells reporter Peter Clottey Zimbabweans need to stand up to protect their votes.

“Morgan has called for a general strike today (Monday) in Zimbabwe, and what we now need to see is whether the people of Zimbabwe are going to heed to his call. As you are aware, previous calls for strike and protests and boycotts in Zimbabwe have not been really successful, and one hopes that he can be able to capitalize on the anxiety and the frustration in Zimbabwe, and these people are likely to boycott,” Fungano pointed.

He said Tsvangirai’s call for a mass protest could be detrimental to the MDC’s objective if it fails to materialize.

“I know that boycotts and mass stay-aways in Zimbabwe are highly successful. But what I’m it sure about is people marching in the streets of Harare in this time. And looking at the current environment where all the police and the militias have been deployed, I think it would be a very risky venture and to be playing into the hands of Robert Mugabe who is waiting for an opportunity to declare a state of emergency,” he said.

Fungano said the weekend’s meeting of heads of state and government of Southern African Development Community (SADC) to find a way out of the Zimbabwe’s political crisis would be insignificant.

“I don’t think much is going to come out of the SADC initiative. I think we’ve had numerous meetings that have been held by SADC and the best that they are able to come up with is a communiqué that would say both parties need to communicate and they need to discuss,” Fungano noted.

He said South African President Thabo Mbeki’s quiet diplomacy towards the Zimbabwe crisis would not significantly change anytime soon.

“I don’t think that Thabo Mbeki is going to shift from his stands unless the ANC (South Africa’s Ruling African National Congress party) leadership led by Jacob Zuma who has categorically stated that the results needs to be released and they are taking a different approach to Zimbabwe, I think that is the only thing that can push him (Mbeki). But other than that, I think he is going to maintain his quiet diplomacy on Zimbabwe because the risky thing about him being confrontational on Zimbabwe is that Mugabe is waiting for an opportunity to also shut the door from SADC. And I think the moment that happens I think the laws of the jungle will prevail in Zimbabwe and Mugabe will not communicate with anybody and he will ensure that he can now become an outright dictatorship in Zimbabwe,” he said.


http://voanews.com/english/Africa/2008-04-14-voa1.cfm

Zimbabwe court refuses to release election results
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/14/africa/zimbabwe.php

JOHANNESBURG: The Zimbabwean political opposition suffered a rebuff Monday when the High Court dismissed its demand that the results of the presidential election last month be made public immediately.

The court accepted the election commission's explanation that it was investigating anomalies in some of the voting districts, according to an Associated Press report. "It can therefore justify the delay," the court ruled.

A spokesman for the main opposition party, Nqobizitha Mlilo, confirmed that the court had dismissed its demand, and said the party, the Movement for Democratic Change, was still considering how it would react to the ruling. The opposition had already threatened to hold a general strike this week. Later Monday, news agencies in Harare, the capital, quoted opposition officials as saying they would go ahead with the strike.

Zimbabwean election officials have yet to announce the winner of the presidential election, which was held March 29, causing widespread suspicions that President Robert Mugabe, who has been president since the country won its independence 28 years ago, is refusing to accept defeat.

On Tuesday, the court is to consider a separate petition from Mugabe's party, the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, which is seeking a recount of the vote in 23 parliamentary constituencies.

Official results in the election gave the opposition party more than half of the 210 seats in Parliament, but a recount of those districts could swing the majority back into the governing party's column.

The ruling by the court Monday is a setback for opposition officials in their battle to unseat Mugabe. On Sunday, they savored support they had gained from southern African political leaders. The leaders of a 14-country bloc gathered in Lusaka, Zambia, for 12 consecutive hours of talks on the political impasse in Zimbabwe, ending at 5 a.m. Sunday.

The bloc, the Southern African Development Community, announced that it was urging the Zimbabwean government to let representatives of the opposition be present when vote tabulations were verified and to ensure that a presidential runoff, if needed, would be held "in a secure environment."

Election monitors and opposition candidates have said they were denied access to the vote-counting command center. They have also charged that Mugabe's party has organized youth militias and veterans of the independence struggle to attack opposition supporters.

On Friday, the ruling party tightened its control over the beleaguered country by banning political rallies, continuing its crackdown on the opposition and arresting the lawyer of its chief rival, the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

In the past, the regional leaders have been accused of being overly deferential to Mugabe. And little had been expected to come out of the conference after a powerful leader in the bloc, President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, flew first to the Zimbabwean capital to meet with Mugabe.

They emerged holding hands, and Mbeki blandly declared that he did not think Zimbabwe was facing a political crisis.

The No. 2 man in Tsvangirai's party, Tendai Biti, praised the African leaders, saying, "This is a major improvement, and SADC has acquitted itself relatively well."

His praise was noteworthy because before the meeting began, Biti, a labor lawyer, had said its outcome would be a test of whether the bloc was anything more than what he called a trade union for dictators.

Celia W. Dugger reported from Johannesburg and Graham Bowley from New York

[size=14pt]Tsvangirai: U.N. must act on Zimbabwe[/size]


http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/04/17/zimbabwe.court/index.html?section=cnn_latest

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (CNN) -- Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has called for the United Nations to set up a criminal court to prosecute The southern African nation is still awaiting the release of the results from the March 29 presidential vote, and President Robert Mugabe's ruling party may win back power in parliament after the electoral commission ordered a recount to take place Saturday.



The government has cracked down on protesters, raising fears of similar bloodshed to that which followed Kenya's recent post-election riots if no resolution is found.

Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change has claimed victory but has accused 84-year-old Mugabe of holding back the results so he can retain his near three-decade grip on power.

The MDC has been frustrated in its legal bids to have the results made public, with the High Court judges legal to Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party. Watch Tsvangirai talk about those who don't think there is a crisis »

"We believe time has now come for the U.N. to set up an international criminal court," Tsvangirai said Thursday in South Africa, where he has been seeking support.

"Especially for those that are currently committing acts of brutality against the people.

"To me, that is a very focused attention. We cannot watch Zimbabweans being brutalized by their own government. Brutalized, raped, their homes burned because they just decided to vote otherwise."

Tsvangirai also leveled criticism at South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has been asked to help negotiate a resolution in the election.

Mbeki has sided with Mugabe on the election issue, saying it was not a crisis.

Tsvangirai said that the problems in Zimbabwe began long before the recent election and that Mbeki had been part of the mediation discussion for close to a decade.

"Well, it is nine years since the emergence of this Zimbabwean crisis. In any measure of success, I think nine years is too far, too long without a resolution in sight," Tsvangirai said.

"So I think that those who are making this criticism of the role played by President Mbeki, I think, are justified."

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on Zimbabwe's neighbors to "step up" to help the southern African country resolve its ongoing political crisis.

"Frankly, the United States and the European Union and others have spoken out about this, and we've made calls, it's time for Africa to step up," Rice said Thursday.

"Where is the concern from the African Union and from Zimbabwe's neighbors about what is going on in Zimbabwe?"

Earlier Thursday, Tsvangirai was accused of treason in Zimbabwe's state-run national newspaper, which quoted alleged correspondence with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Mugabe rose to power after ousting the British-backed, white-ruled regime led by Ian Smith.

The Associated Press said The Herald printed excerpts from the April 9 letter in which Brown pledged to "make sure that a solution to the ongoing crisis in Zimbabwe is reached and your electoral success is respected."

It quoted outgoing Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa as saying, "Tsvangirai along with Brown are seeking an illegal regime change in Zimbabwe, and on the part of Tsvangirai, this is treasonous."

Chinamasa lost his seat in the elections in which Zanu-PF lost control of Parliament for the first time, AP reported.

The MDC has called the letter a forgery, and Tsvangirai told AP that the allegations were "outrageous."


The British Embassy in Zimbabwe released a statement Thursday also labeling the letter as a fake.

"No such letter, or wider correspondence, exists. It reflects this regime's desperation that Zanu-PF and state-controlled media have resorted to faking documents for crude propaganda

This is exactly what I suspected would come of this. Africa once again not being able to solve it's own problem and having to bring the world in to help fix things agains.

the big matter in africa that everyone has been rulling for a long time never peacefully release the power for others to rule if you do not use weapon as happened in DRC with dictatorial regime of Mobutism seseko he will never leave . Why Africa ?

This is exactly what I suspected would come of this. Africa once again not being able to solve it's own problem and having to bring the world in to help fix things agains.

actually african countries can. Senegal was the only one of two African countries that called for action. most africans countries like south africa are complacent or scared of starting a series of regime changes in the continent. my bet is they would reach a Kenyan compromise and everyone go back to bed waiting for another election.

But we are not talking of can. African countries can actually do better than they have been and are in so many areas yet we continue to suck on the nipples of the outside world. The man has given up on Africa and is now calling on the world, that already is telling that he may have given up hope when it comes to having African countries help rectify the situation.