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Senegalese leader slams Zim unity move
Fiona Forde, Basildon Peta and Hans Pienaar, Independent Online
July 03, 2008

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=2646&art_id=vn20080703060742510C653686

Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt - Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade says calling for a government of national unity doesn't go far enough in addressing Zimbabwe's crisis. He has also questioned President Thabo Mbeki's role as mediator.

In an interview with Independent Newspapers in the Red Sea resort town on Wednesday, Wade said "limiting opinion at the intervention point" in calling for negotiations - without any reference to the recent botched poll - was not the right thing to do.

"Because (President Robert Mugabe) will get back as a president, full president, the chief of the police, of the army. And, on the other side, you have half of the population. They will fight. And we (the African Union) will be responsible for not taking the correct measures."

However, the 82-year-old leader said he would support the plan mapped out for the country and assist where he could. While he is not formally putting himself up for the job of mediator, he said, unlike Mbeki, he had good relations with both Mugabe and rival Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai and had an understanding of the crisis, after years of negotiating on the sidelines.

"I have told Mugabe that I will not be involved in official mediation, but call me any time. I am waiting. I will help."

During a briefing in Harare on Wednesday, Tsvangirai called Mbeki's role as mediator into question by calling for an AU envoy to intervene and accusing the South African president of bias after years of failed intervention.

Wade said that in the recent past he had told Mbeki that "Tsvangirai is not confident with you" and had expressed the same concern to Mugabe.

He also said the Zanu-PF leader had told him that "Mbeki is a friend, of course, but I am not accepting what he wants".

Wade said evidence of that came to light when he received a call from Tsvangirai a day before Friday's sham election. The MDC leader sought advice about a last-minute offer the Mbeki delegation had made in a bid to stop the violent poll.

"They offered him a position of executive prime minister, but they said they had not yet met Mugabe."

Tsvangirai declined, as did Mugabe. The AU has now called on the two rivals to sit down and negotiate what Mbeki failed to facilitate.

However, Tsvangirai insists that a government of national unity (GNU) "doesn't address the problems facing Zimbabwe or acknowledge the will of the Zimbabwean people".

Wade has appealed to both sides to begin to talks immediately about a GNU. He believes it is the only solution to a situation where Mugabe and Tsvangirai both have half the population behind them and the country is divided along battle lines.

MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said on Wednesday night the party was ready for talks and had laid down its conditions. He said the MDC would give the Mugabe regime a "two-week window" in which to meet the conditions.

A South African government source said exploratory discussions would start at three different places and would likely focus initially on reducing the violence.

Tsvangirai said in Harare on Wednesday that violence was continuing as Zanu-PF sought retribution against voters who did not turn out for Friday's runoff or spoilt their ballot papers. So, for now, a GNU would not be on the agenda.

"A GNU doesn't address the problems facing Zimbabwe or acknowledge the will of the Zimbabwean people," Tsvangirai declared in response to an AU resolution calling for a GNU.

After the AU summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Mbeki said on SABC TV that Mugabe had not objected to the AU's request for dialogue.

"He said they were committed to that and that indeed, even as we were sitting at the meeting, the Zimbabweans were interacting among themselves."

Mbeki described Mugabe as "fully supportive" of co-operation and dialogue between Zimbabwe's political parties to find a solution to their challenges.

AU President Jakaya Kikwete, who is also president of Tanzania, said in Egypt on Wednesday that talks led by the Southern African Development Community would begin "as soon as possible" and "will move very quickly".

Although he declined to put a time frame on a final deal, he said he would expect "to see movement by the end of the year".

Kikwete said neither Mugabe nor Tsvangirai had expressed any objection to him personally and that he did not expect them to do so.

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