Mediator Mbeki holds talks with Mugabe on poll crisis

Enlarge Photo Thabo Mbeki, president of South Africa, speaks during a news conference at the United Nations...

Fri, May 9 10:10 PM

By Nelson Banya

HARARE (Reuters) - Mediator and South African leader Thabo Mbeki held talks with President Robert Mugabe on Friday on Zimbabwe's disputed election, officials said, ahead of a possible run-off that has raised concerns of further violence.

Mbeki, whose "soft diplomacy" approach towards Zimbabwe's crisis has drawn criticism at home and abroad, met with Mugabe for three hours, said the officials. They did not elaborate.

He did not discuss the post-election turmoil with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) as well, party officials said.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who left Zimbabwe shortly after the March elections, says he won the presidential poll outright and his party says it is not planning to participate in a run-off. Tsvangirai has yet to give a final answer on whether he will contest.

If he does not, the 84-year-old Mugabe will automatically win. Mugabe has ruled since independence in 1980.

The MDC is expected to announce their decision on whether to take part in a run-off at a news conference in Pretoria on Saturday at 0800 GMT.

Regional heavyweight South Africa is heading efforts by the regional SADC grouping to defuse the tension in Zimbabwe, which suffers from 80 percent unemployment, chronic food and fuel shortages and the world's highest inflation of 165,000 percent.

The last time Mbeki met with Mugabe after the election, he denied there was a crisis, a comment which was widely attacked by political rivals and the international community.

Western countries have called on African states to do more to end the standoff. A flood of refugees and concerns about instability and violence have taken their toll on the region.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has been talking to African states about how the world body could help make a run-off credible and has expressed concern about the violence.

But Mbeki has said Zimbabwe's problems should find an African solution instead.

Asked in an interview on Al Jazeera television this week whether it would be helpful if U.N. monitors were allowed into Zimbabwe as election observers to help calm the situation and instil trust in the process, Mbeki said:

"I don't like the idea that suggests that as Africans we cannot do the job.

ACCUSATIONS OF ATTACKS

The MDC, rights groups and Western nations have accused the ruling ZANU-PF party of launching a campaign of violence to ensure Mugabe wins a run-off. ZANU-PF denies the charge, has appealed for calm, and accuses the MDC of carrying out attacks.

The opposition and civic groups have also said soldiers

beat civilians and armed militia groups.

The Zimbabwe National Army told the state-run Herald newspaper it was not behind the violence and was trying hard to ensure peace returns.

Army spokesman Alois Makotore "categorically distanced the army and any of its members from allegedly harassing, assaulting people and robberies," the paper reported on Friday.

He said the army was concerned by a rising number of incidents in which soldiers were facing provocations, abuse and attacks by some members of the public "for no good reason".

Mugabe's government has repeatedly called for an end to the violence, in which the opposition says more than 20 people have been killed and thousands displaced. Agricultural groups say 40,000 labourers have been expelled from farms.

It has rejected criticism of the elections and the weeks of delays in confirming winners, saying it was running a free, fair and democratic election process.

Official results show ZANU-PF lost its parliamentary majority to the opposition for the first time since independence. Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in the presidential poll -- but not by enough votes to secure an absolute majority and avoid a run-off.

(Additional reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe)

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