Mugabe Seeks AU’s BackingMugabe Seeks AU’s BackingZimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe was welcomed by his peers Monday, strolling into an African Union summit where leaders were unlikely to criticize him despite Western calls for them to condemn his widely discredited re-election.
The United States has vowed to bring the issue of Zimbabwe before the U.N. Security Council this week, and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged the AU to reject the result of Zimbabwe's presidential runoff.
Mugabe was the sole candidate in Friday's vote. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew, saying his supporters had become targets of brutal state-sponsored violence.
The summit should "make it absolutely clear that there has got to be change" in Zimbabwe, Brown said in London. "I think the message that is coming from the whole world is that the so-called elections will not be recognized."
But instead of condemnations, the AU's leaders were expected to gently urge Mugabe to engage in some sort of power-sharing agreement with the country's opposition, along the lines of a deal that ended violence in Kenya earlier this year.
Africa should "do everything in its power to help the Zimbabwe parties to work together in the supreme interests in their country so as to overcome its current challenges," African Union Commission chairman Jean Ping told delegates.
In his opening address to the gathering in this Egyptian Red Sea resort, the African Union's head, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, congratulated the Zimbabwean people and AU mediators but not Mugabe himself. He called the elections "historic" but also said there were challenges.
A draft resolution written by AU foreign ministers and due to be approved by leaders at the summit does not criticize the runoff election or Mugabe. The draft, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, condemned violence in general terms and called for dialogue.
The summit is an opportunity for Mugabe to gain some symbolic international recognition a day after he was sworn in as president for a sixth term following Friday's voting.
Tsvangirai on Monday said Mugabe should have no place at the summit and the AU now had a responsibility to deal with the crisis.
"Robert Mugabe is not the legitimate leader of Zimbabwe," Tsvangirai told The Associated Press. "He is usurping the power of the people. He has brutalized his own people."
The African Union's own observers said Monday that the runoff fell short of the continental body's standards, citing violence and noting that the opposition was denied equal access to the media during the campaign.
U.N. deputy secretary-general, Asha-Rose Migiro, called the situation an "extremely grave crisis."
"This the single greatest challenge ... in southern Africa, not only because its terrible humanitarian consequences but also because of the dangerous political precedent it sets," she told delegates during an opening address.
Most African governments including regional powerhouse South Africa have been reluctant to criticize Mugabe, whether because of long-standing ties to the Zimbabwean leader or because they do not want to be seen as backing the West against a fellow African.
Mugabe has threatened to point fingers at African leaders if they speak out against him.
Zimbabwe's government mouthpiece, The Herald, reported Monday that Mugabe "was prepared to face any of his AU counterparts disparaging Zimbabwe's electoral conduct because some of their countries had worse" elections records.
Zimbabwe is far from Africa's only experience with flawed elections. For example, the summit's host nation, U.S. ally Egypt, is often criticized by international rights groups for jailing dissidents to Hosni Mubarak's nearly 27-year rule, and recent elections saw violence as police barred opposition supporters from the polls.
Electoral officials said Sunday that Mugabe won 85 percent of the vote in Friday's runoff, which observers said was marred by violence and intimidation. Just hours after he was declared the winner, Mugabe, who has been Zimbabwe's leader since independence in 1980, sounded a conciliatory note.
"Sooner or later, as diverse political parties, we shall start serious talks," he said in a speech following his swearing-in Sunday. He also had promised talks on the eve of the vote.
Many world leaders have condemned Friday's runoff. On Monday, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said France "decided that this government is illegitimate" and called the re-election of Mugabe a "farce, a criminal electoral comedy."
He expressed hopes African leaders would be firm with Mugabe at the summit. But he also acknowledged that "for many Africans, Mugabe was long a great liberator" as an anti-colonial hero, which complicates matters."
President Bush has said the U.S. was working on ways to further punish Mugabe and his allies. That could mean steps against his government as well as additional restrictions on the travel and financial activities of Mugabe supporters. The U.S. has financial and travel penalties in place against more than 170 citizens and entities with ties to Mugabe, the White House says.
Bush also wants the U.N. Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Zimbabwe as well as travel bans on Zimbabwe government officials.
Zambia's President Levy Mwanawasa, who has been a critic of Zimbabwe's political crisis, was not in attendance at the summit. He was rushed to a local hospital Sunday after falling ill while meeting with African leaders here, said Egypt's official news agency, MENA.
According to the government-owned Zambia Daily Mail, Foreign Affairs Minister Kabinga Pande said that Mwanawasa was admitted to Sharm-el-Sheikh International Hospital for high blood pressure. Mwanawasa suffered a stroke in 2006.
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