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African Union Summit/Zimbabwe

African Union condemns Mugabe's reelection

Article published on the 2008-06-30 Latest update 2008-07-06 10:26 TU

The African Union's election observers denounced Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's reelection Monday, saying that the one-man election fell short of its democratic standards at its two-day summit in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, on Monday. 84-year old Mugabe was the sole candidate after opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out of the poll citing violence and intimidation of his supporters.

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After three hours of intensive talks on Sunday night, the African Union’s Peace and Security Council, its conflict prevention body, referred the matter directly to the ministers themselves to decide on next steps. The 53 heads of state met Monday morning to examine the Zimbabwean crisis. The leaders remain divided over how to deal with Mugabe.

Mugabe was hastily sworn in as president on Sunday for a sixth term, barely an hour after the Zimbabwean electoral commission declared he won more than 85 per cent of the votes cast in Sunday’s controversial run-off poll.

Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga also urged his fellow AU members to suspend Mugabe from the AU until he allows "free and fair elections".

Veteran African leader and Gabon President Omar Bongo told journalists at the summit on Monday that Robert Mugabe "is president" of Zimbabwe, despite the way he was elected.

The AU are exploring a “Kenyan” power-sharing solution whereby Robert Mugabe would remain president and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai would be named Prime Minister with wide powers. A draft statement is being negotiated.

The Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi summarised the state of mind of the AU participants: “My position is that there cannot be a single party, neither ZanuPF or MDC.  For the moment there can’t be a fully legitimate government. What we need is a political solution.”

Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change called Monday for the African Union summit to appoint a permanent envoy to assist South African president Thabo Mbeki in mediating the country's crisis.

In a statement on Monday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon branded Zimbabwe’s election as "deeply flawed".  He said, "The outcome did not reflect the true and genuine will of the Zimbabwean people or produce a legitimate result".  Ban encouraged efforts of the two sides to negotiate a political solution that would end violence and intimidation.

Meanwhile, the US is working on a new set of sanctions to focus on Zimbabwe, and plans to present the draft resolution to the UN Security Council within a week, US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said on Monday.