Tsvangirai to meet Elders

2008-11-21 13:00

Johannesburg - Zimbabwe's prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai said he would meet on Friday in South Africa with former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan and ex-US president Jimmy Carter on the eve of their high-profile visit to Zimbabwe.

Tsvangirai confirmed the meeting during an interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa in Berlin on Thursday.

Annan, Carter and Mozambican social activist Graca Machel, members of The Elders group of leading activists and ex-world leaders, plan to spend Saturday and Sunday in Zimbabwe to assess the humanitarian crisis in the country.

President Robert Mugabe's regime has poured cold water on the visit, calling it "a partisan mission by a group of people with partisan interests" and a "rescue package" for Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change.

It was not yet clear whether the government would try to block their entry.

The MDC is trying to fight its corner in negotiations with Mugabe's Zanu-PF about a unity government, but its position was weakened after a summit of southern African leaders recently endorsed Mugabe's bid to retain most of the key cabinet portfolios.

The Elders was launched by anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela on his 89th birthday in 2007 and also includes South African Nobel peace prize winner and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, who has been a vocal critic of Mugabe, calling him "a caricature of an African dictator".

While assuring their visit has no political motive, The Elders have sought meetings with the country's political leaders, including Mugabe.

A spokesperson for The Elders said on Thursday the group had not yet received a formal reply from the elderly leader.

The visit coincides with the breakdown in power-sharing talks between Mugabe and the MDC and a deepening humanitarian crisis, characterised by widespread hunger and a raging cholera outbreak. - Sapa-dpa

- SAPA