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Zim summit ends at dawn
13/04/2008 09:35 - (SA)
Lusaka - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe skipped a regional summit addressing the deepening crisis over the country's contentious presidential election, giving Southern African leaders little chance to step up the pressure on him.
The summit that lasted into Sunday morning reflected Mugabe's growing isolation, as well as cracks in the usually uniform solidarity shown toward him by the Southern African Development Community. Mugabe, who has been in power 28 years, is the region's longest-serving president.
After meeting with Mugabe in Zimbabwe, South African President Thabo Mbeki said "there is no crisis." But at the summit, Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa urged his counterparts to "focus on helping Zimbabwe to find an answer that generally reflects the will of the Zimbabwean people."
Mwanawasa said he called the summit because of the failure of Zimbabwean officials to publish the results of March 29 presidential election. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who says he won the election outright, was invited to address the delegates, an unprecedented move that further alienated Mugabe.
Calls for election results
The meeting ended just before dawn on Sunday with a declaration that called on the speedy verification of Zimbabwe's election results. Delegates rushed away and refused to answer questions, leaving Zambia Foreign Affairs Minister Kabinga Pande to echo Mbeki's statement that Zimbabwe is not facing a crisis.
"We listened to both parties, the opposition and the government, and both have said there is no crisis," Pande said.
The declaration by the summit's delegates did not call for the immediate announcement of the election results, but for their expeditious verification in the presence of the candidates or their agents "within the rule of law." The declaration also urged "all parties to accept the results when they are announced."
If a runoff election is required, Zimbabwe's government is urged to ensure the it is held in a secure environment, the declaration said.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said it would conduct a full recount of the presidential and parliamentary vote on April 19, the state-run Sunday Mail newspaper reported. Commission chairperson George Chiweshe said candidates, party representatives and observers would be allowed to witness the process, the paper said. Mugabe's party had demanded a recount.
Independent tallies indicate Mugabe lost, but garnered enough votes to force a runoff.
Tsvangirai has urged regional leaders to push Mugabe to step down, but there appeared little likelihood that would happen.
Tsvangirai left the meeting in a hurry after about eight hours, though it was not clear whether he was walking out. An aide said he would return, but he had not by 04:30.
US Ambassador Carmen Martinez, among more than a dozen diplomats on the sidelines of the summit, said the United States was looking for "at least one step forward."
"If SADC cannot even get a state to release their election results, it's going to be very difficult for SADC," she said.
Mbeki, the chief mediator on Zimbabwe, urged patience.
"Everybody is waiting for the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to announce the results," he said in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, before flying to the summit in Zambia.
- AP
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