VARIOUS: Mugabe at AU summit as African poll observers, Zimbabwe opposition and British PM criticise presidential election he won

Record ID: 478318

  • Title: VARIOUS: Mugabe at AU summit as African poll observers, Zimbabwe opposition and British PM criticise presidential election he won
  • Date: 30th June 2008
  • Summary: (BN10) JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA, (JUNE 30, 2008) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF NEWSPAPER HEADLINES
  • Embargoed: 15th July 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAF2CO42G5T9VHM6ILFVDE5MLYU
  • Story Text: Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe attends African Union summit in Egypt as AU observers say his nation's presidential run-off election fell short of AU standards. Zimbabwe's opposition party MDC calls for the immediate deployment of peacekeepers. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown urges AU and U.N. to tell Mugabe to change and install democracy in his country.
    Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Monday (June 30) joined an African Union summit in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, where was put under pressure to negotiate with the opposition in his country after winning a one-candidate election condemned by monitors as unfair and violent.
    Mugabe, 84, flew to Egypt after being sworn in for a new term, extending his unbroken rule since independence from Britain in 1980.
    As Mugabe arrived, regional power South Africa called for his ZANU-PF and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC to enter talks on a transitional government. Tsvangirai withdrew from Friday's ballot because of attacks on his supporters.
    Pretoria is the designated southern African mediator in Zimbabwe although President Thabo Mbeki has been widely accused of being too soft on Mugabe.
    The statement was the first time South Africa has publicly called for a unity government and could indicate the line that the African Union will take.
    Western powers, human rights groups and the opposition have called on African leaders to reject the result of the presidential elections which Mugabe won on Friday (June 27) as illegitimate.
    Monitors from both Zimbabwe's neighbours in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Pan-African parliament said the vote was undermined by violence and did not reflect the will of the people.
    African Union observers said it fell short of AU standards.
    In Harare, an unnamed AU election observer spokeswoman said that, while the poll was peaceful and held in accordance with the electoral laws of Zimbabwe, there was violence in the run up to the elections. The fear of violence deterred popular participation in the electoral process, she said.

    "It is the considered view of the African Union observer mission that the electoral process fell short of AU standards," the mission said in a statement.
    Zimbabwe's opposition party MDC has called for the immediate deployment of peacekeepers to stop the bloodshed in that country. Talking to Reuters on Monday, MDC spokesperson Roy Bennet said: "We've asked the AU to bring in peacekeepers in a process leading towards free and fair elections.
    We've asked for peacekeepers, we've asked for the dismantling of militia torture and ZANU-PF torture camps, we've asked for the immediate cessation of the violence."
    Bennet said opposition forces had asked for "an African Union - SADC backed facilitator to be able to have a process of a transitional government, based on power sharing, based around the seats in parliament but again reiterating the immediate deployment of peacekeepers, the immediate cessation of violence, release of all our prisoners, dismantling of the militia camps and then a process towards which will end up with free and fair elections."
    Both Mugabe and Tsvangirai say they are ready for African-sponsored talks although a tough question remains over who would lead a unity government.
    Tsvangirai won the first round of elections on March 29 but fell short of the majority needed for outright victory.
    On the streets of Johannesburg young residents were critical of Mugabe.
    "The AU must help Tsvangirai to shift Mugabe because he is not good, he is killer and does not treat people right, they deserve better than this," Johannesburg resident Asanda Rashaza said.
    Another Johannesburg resident, named as Siphokazi, said: "The U.N.
    people must help Tsvangirai to win Mugabe."
    British Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged AU leaders meeting in Egypt to tell Mugabe his leadership of the country must change.
    Brown told reporters he hoped the AU "will make it absolutely clear that there has got to be change" in Zimbabwe, adding: "A new government has got to be brought in."

    "I think the message that is coming from the whole world is that the so-called elections will not be recognised," Brown said. "People want the violence in Zimbabwe to end, that the intimidation against the opposition parties and against the people of Zimbabwe has to be brought to an end," he said.
    Brown pledged help the Zimbabwean people "end the poverty and depravation and famine that exists in some parts of the country" once democracy had been restored in Zimbabwe.
    Zimbabwe's crisis has ruined a once prosperous country, saddling it with the world's worst hyper-inflation and straining neighbouring nations, especially South Africa, with a flood of millions of economic refugees.
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