Mugabe, foe reject Africans' unity call

CAIRO, Egypt - Prospects for ending the political crisis in Zimbabwe deteriorated further yesterday when President Robert Mugabe and the country's main opposition party rejected calls by African leaders to form a power-sharing government after the recent disputed elections.

The problem of what to do with Zimbabwe and its defiant 84-year-old president veered from backroom diplomacy to public recriminations during the African Union summit in the Red Sea Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheik. Leaders from nations in the 53-member union passed a resolution pressing the opposition and Mugabe to compromise, but amid cameras in crowded hallways, passions rose among the president's entourage.

Mugabe's spokesman, George Charamba, told reporters that Zimbabwe would not accept a unity government similar to one put in place in Kenya this year after its questionable elections. He spurned the notion that Mugabe would step aside over threats of broader U.N. sanctions after a campaign of violence and intimidation that led opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai to boycott Friday's election.

"Kenya is Kenya. Zimbabwe is Zimbabwe," Charamba said. "We have our own history of evolving dialogue and resolving political impasses the Zimbabwean way."

He added: "The way out is a way defined by the Zimbabwe people, free from outside interference, and that is exactly what will resolve the matter."

When asked about Western criticism of the election, much of it coming from the United States and Britain, the spokesman said: "They can go hang a thousand times, they have no basis, they have no claim on Zimbabwe politics at all."

Tsvangirai's opposition Movement for Democratic Change appeared also to dismiss the idea of a power-sharing solution. A statement by the group released in Harare, Zimbabwe's capital, asserted: "There are no talks or discussions taking place between the two parties and most importantly, there is no agreement in the offing."

The MDC's deputy leader, Tendai Biti, who was jailed during the campaign and later released, said the violence-tainted runoff election "totally and completely exterminated any prospects of a negotiated settlement."

The resolution by the African Union calls for talks on the "creation of a government of national unity." The group said it was "deeply concerned" and urged that the crisis be mediated by the Southern African Development Community, which found the election campaign that brought Mugabe to his sixth term was undemocratic and "did not represent the will of the people of Zimbabwe."

The opposition won none of its key demands from the summit. Its representatives on the sidelines had lobbied delegates to declare that the first round of the Zimbabwean presidential election March 29, when Tsvangirai outpolled Mugabe, should be used as the basis for talks on a government of national unity. The MDC also wanted the African Union to reject Friday's second round as illegitimate and to appoint an envoy to oversee negotiations toward a unified administration.

The resolution addressed neither request.

Although the MDC did not achieve its goals during the two-day gathering, it won significant support in Africa, according to opposition sources in Harare. Nigeria, Senegal, Botswana and Kenya saw Friday's election as lacking legitimacy and were supportive of the MDC's position.

Still, the African Union was divided on how tough a line to take with Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since it gained independence from Britain in 1980 and is revered as a postcolonial hero by many on the continent.

The union found itself between two unfolding scenarios: Growing pressure from Washington and London for tougher U.N. sanctions against Zimbabwe, and a desire to project the image that African nations can resolve disputes on their continent.

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga urged harsh action. "They should suspend [Mugabe] and send peace forces to Zimbabwe to ensure free and fair elections," Odinga said. But President Omar Bongo of Gabon said the union must respect Zimbabwe's election results.