ZIMBABWE’S opposition said Tuesday it hopes a meeting this week between the South African president and a top African Union official will result in a second mediator joining efforts to resolve their nation's crisis.
But South Africa's deputy foreign minister said the issue of a mediator besides President Thabo Mbeki was a "fake argument."
That sharp difference of opinion on what Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has raised as a central issue does not bode well for Mbeki's efforts to guide Tsvangirai and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe toward ending a deadly political crisis and putting Zimbabwe's ravaged economy on the road to recovery. Tsvangirai has accused Mbeki of bias in favor of Mugabe.
"There's no progress (in getting talks started) and there will not be any progress until there's an expansion of the mediation team," Tsvangirai spokesman George Sibotshiwe said Tuesday. He said he hoped Jean Ping, the AU's chief executive — who is due in South Africa on Friday to be briefed by Mbeki on his progress so far — will persuade Mbeki to bring on another mediator.
Last week, Christian leaders in Zimbabwe called on (President) Mugabe and Tsvangirai to meet face to face to resolve the crisis, saying they did not believe a June 27 presidential runoff Mugabe claims to have won reflected "the will of the people of Zimbabwe."
The African Union last month endorsed Mbeki as mediator, a role he took on more than a year ago.
But Tsvangirai repeatedly has called for Mbeki to be either replaced or a second mediator named, a demand backed by Zambia and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who praised Mbeki's efforts but called for another "high-profile" African negotiator.
South Africa's deputy foreign minister, Aziz Pahad, said the issue of a second mediator is not on the agenda for the Ping-Mbeki meeting.
"I don't believe that at this very crucial moment, adding new bodies ... is what is required. Zimbabweans don't have the luxury of not finding a solution to which they have all publicly committed themselves," he said. But Sibotshiwe, the opposition spokesman, said there has been no progress since MDC negotiator Tendai Biti came to Pretoria last week to lay out the party's conditions for talks.
AFP
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