Door open for mediator Mbeki
2008-06-25 14:33
Mbabane - Southern African nations on Wednesday started a meeting in Mbabane on the Zimbabwe crisis without South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki, an official told AFP.
King Mswati of Swaziland and Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete were at the meeting, said Tercy Simelane, spokesperson for Swaziland Prime Minister Absalom Themba Dlamini.
Angolan President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos or his foreign minister Joao Miranda were expected for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) security committee.
Mbeki is a mediator in the crisis between Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and the opposition, but his spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga told AFP that the South African leader would not be going to Mbabane because had not been invited.
"President Mbeki was not invited because he is not a member of the troika, but the door is open for him to attend as a mediator to the Zimbabwe crisis," Simelane told AFP.
A statement from the Tanzanian presidency on Tuesday had said Mbeki would attend the emergency meeting along with Kikwete and Zambian President and SADC chairperson Levi Mwanawasa.
On Tuesday Mugabe's government vowed to go ahead with a presidential run-off election on Friday despite the withdrawal of opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai, citing political violence against his supporters.
Tsvangirai, who is now in the Dutch embassy in Harare, quit the race in an official letter to the electoral commission Tuesday.
The opposition pull-out has laid out a possible victory by default for veteran leader Mugabe, in power since 1980.
The SADC is facing a storm of criticism for its failure to ensure transparent and violence-free elections in Zimbabwe.
Several Western nations, including Britain and the United States, have urged the world to isolate Mugabe and declare his presidency illegitimate if there is not a free and fair ballot.