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Summit guarded on Zimbabwe

Southern African leaders issued a guarded response yesterday to Zimbabwe’s presidential election impasse, calling only for the result of the March 29 poll to be delivered as soon as possible.

And hopes for a quick fix to the crisis that has enveloped the country since elections 15 days ago were dashed by the announcement that all the votes in 23 of the country’s 210 constituencies would be recounted next Saturday.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe decided not to attend the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit in the Zambian capital Lusaka, but that did not stop regional leaders talking long into the night.

After a marathon meeting, the bloc stopped well short of criticizing the Zimbabwean government or Mugabe, who was not even mentioned in the summit’s four-page joint statement.

“The summit urged the electoral authorities in Zimbabwe that verification and release of results are expeditiously done in accordance with the due process of law,” the statement said.

The summit also urged all the parties in the electoral process in Zimbabwe to accept the results when they are announced.

SADC did insist, however, that if the result of the presidential election proved neither Mugabe nor opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai had won outright that a second ballot was conducted fairly.

“The government is urged to ensure that the run-off elections are held in a secure environment,” the joint statement said, suggesting SADC could send an observer mission.

Tsvangirai attended the summit and his deputy was broadly happy with the outcome, although he expressed reservations at a call for the continued involvement of South African President Thabo Mbeki.

Mbeki was the chief mediator between the governing ZANU-PF party and Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in the build-up to the election, but has since come under fire for his policy of “quiet diplomacy.”

Mbeki must show “more vigor, more openness and a complete abandonment of the policy of quiet diplomacy,” Tsvangirai’s number two Tendai Biti told journalists in Lusaka.

However, Biti conceded that the opposition had been largely satisfied with the outcome of the summit.

“This is a major improvement, SADC has acquitted itself fairly well,” he said.

Southern African leaders have been heavily criticized over their traditional reluctance to speak out against Mugabe, an elder statesman who has ruled Zimbabwe for 28 years and is the oldest leader in the region.

Nevertheless many in SADC are fed up with the economic mess on their doorstep with inflation in Zimbabwe now well into six figures, unemployment at more than 80 percent and average life expectancy down to 36 years of age.

Mbeki dropped in on Harare on his way to the summit and held his first face-to-face talks with Mugabe since the disputed elections.

“The body authorized to release the results is the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, let’s wait for them to announce the results,” he told journalists afterwards, adding that there was “no crisis” in his northern neighbor.

During the summit, Zimbabwe’s state media announced a vote recount that could theoretically see Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF regain control of parliament after losing it in legislative elections, also on March 29.

ZANU-PF lost parliamentary control to the opposition for the first time in the legislative vote with the MDC and its splinter faction winning a combined 109 seats to just 97 for the ruling party.

This means ZANU-PF need only win back nine seats in the recount to regain control of parliament. Presidential, senatorial and council votes were also to be tallied again in the same 23 constituencies.

In a further blow to the opposition, state television reported on Saturday it had unearthed a secret document allegedly written by Biti and detailing plans by the MDC to rig the elections by paying off election officials.

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa had told leaders in his opening address that doing nothing was not an option.

“SADC cannot stand by and do nothing when one of its members is experiencing political and economic pain. It would be wrong to turn a blind eye,” the summit chairman said.

But the joint statement issued 13 hours later offered no clear sign that a resolution was any closer.

“The court in Zimbabwe is going to rule on Monday so we will take it from there,” SADC Secretary General Tomaz Salomao told journalists as he wrapped up proceedings in Lusaka.

The opposition has called for a general strike to be launched beginning tomorrow.
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