Zimbabwe crisis to dominate AU summit in Egypt

By Tichaona Sibanda
27 June 2008

The current crisis in the country, exacerbated by Robert Mugabe’s insistence to hold the one-man presidential run-off, will probably dominate an African Union summit in Egypt, amid international criticism that the continent hasn’t done enough to end the state sponsored violence.

African leaders will start meeting on Monday in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheik, and Mugabe has said he will attend the meeting. World leaders have criticised Africa’s failure to stop attacks on MDC supporters ahead of Friday’s runoff election.

Earlier this week the AU expressed its ‘grave concern’ about developments in the country and urged both sides involved in the dispute to exercise restraint, even though the violence has been predominantly sponsored by the ruling party. An estimated 100 supporters of the MDC have been assassinated and 200,000 more have been forced to flee their homes.

Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, the current chairman of the AU, met this week with officials from the 14-nation SADC bloc and issued a statement urging Mugabe to postpone the election runoff. A request completely ignored by Mugabe.

Individual African leaders have been more strident. Ghana’s President John Kufuor urged Mugabe to halt ‘violence and mayhem’ in the country, while Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga asked: ‘If Africans could bring down apartheid, what about Mugabe and Botswana’s Ian Khama has threatened to use unspecified action if SADC and the AU don’t act to rein in Mugabe.

South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki, the SADC-appointed mediator on Zimbabwe’s crisis, has consistently refused to directly criticize Mugabe. The South African leader said on Friday he will take his cue from talks at the African Union summit and SADC, before pronouncing on the presidential run-off election.