Zim govt taunts Bush

2003-07-10 14:55

Harare - The Zimbabwe government on Thursday taunted US President George W Bush for backing down from his previous hardline stance towards President Robert Mugabe, while the opposition welcomed the US leader's "commitment to the Zimbabwean crisis".

The two were reacting to statements made by Bush and South African President Thabo Mbeki on Wednesday following talks in which they said they were of "one mind" on resolving political tensions in Zimbabwe.

Bush was in South Africa on the second leg of his five-nation tour of Africa, his first to the continent.

Zimbabwe's official Herald newspaper quoted a statement from the government's information department that said Bush's "fleeting and perfunctory reference to Zimbabwe" on Wednesday was "a loud climb-down by a president all along misled".

There had been widespread expectations that Bush would use his trip to South Africa to repeat previous demands by his government that Mugabe should step down, and that fresh elections be held.

Bush would leave Africa "better enlightened about issues at stake", the department was reported as saying.

The Herald quoted the statement as saying the US would have to accept that Zimbabwe would "not accept false and synthetic solutions from outsiders however powerful".

On Wednesday Bush said he thought Mbeki could be an "honest broker" in the Zimbabwean crisis, and said he had urged his counterpart to "continue to work for the return of democracy" in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai meanwhile said Thursday that his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party was "heartened by the sense of urgency displayed by Presidents Mbeki and Bush".

He hoped that Mbeki would ensure that talks resumed between the MDC and Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) "within days rather than weeks," he said in a statement.

The MDC, which rejects Mugabe's victory in presidential elections last year, has strongly criticised Mbeki for not taking a firm stance against Mugabe.

On Wednesday Tsvangirai said Mbeki had misrepresented the Zimbabwean position to Bush by suggesting talks were going on between the two main political rivals.

Fledgling inter-party talks brokered by South Africa and Nigeria in April last year were scuppered when the MDC leader launched a court petition against Mugabe's electoral victory.

Tsvangirai claims the poll was tainted by vote rigging, violence and intimidation.

Mugabe has said he will only talk to the MDC if they drop the petition and recognise him as head of state, but the opposition says it will not agree to conditional talks.

- AFX