A divided UN Security Council will resume talks tomorrow on the deadly political violence in Zimbabwe ahead of the upcoming presidential runoff election, diplomats said on Friday.
The 15-member body was to meet early tomorrow to discuss modalities of a formal meeting planned for later in the day on the outcome of UN troubleshooter Haile Menkerios’ mediation mission to Harare, they said.
One diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the council was divided on whether to hold an open or closed-door debate on the issue.
PHOTO: AP
UN officials said Lynn Pascoe, Under Secretary-General for Political Affairs, was to brief the council tomorrow on Menkerios’ five-day visit to Harare.
Menkerios, a UN assistant secretary-general for political affairs, met with South African President Thabo Mbeki in Pretoria on Friday following his visit to Zimbabwe.
“It appears that he [Menkerios] will remain in the area for some additional days,” UN spokeswoman Michele Montas told reporters on Friday.
In late March, Zimbabwe’s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai beat President Robert Mugabe in the first round of the presidential election, but election officials said he fell short of an outright majority and must face Mugabe in a run-off on Friday.
During his Harare visit, Menkerios met with a broad section of Zimbabwean society, including Mugabe and Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Menkerios was sent to Zimbabwe by UN chief Ban Ki-moon in a bid to ease political tensions ahead of Friday’s balloting amid a wave of deadly violence targeting the opposition.
Mbeki has been appointed mediator in Zimbabwe’s crisis by the 14-nation Southern African Development Community, though he has faced criticism over his quiet diplomacy approach.
Media reports say Mbeki is trying to arrange a first-ever meeting between Mugabe and Tsvangirai that would allow for talks on canceling Friday’s balloting with a view to forming a national unity government.
The Star reported that Tsvangirai told Mbeki he was prepared to meet the Zimbabwean president, but Mugabe was resistant to talks with his run-off opponent.
Last Friday, Mugabe said that “only God” could remove him from office, as his opposition considered pulling out of the run-off.
“The MDC will never be allowed to rule this country — never ever,” Mugabe told local business people in Zimbabwe’s second city, Bulawayo.
Mugabe — in power since independence from Britain in 1980 — has said Tsvangirai is a stooge of the former colonial power.
The MDC plans to meet today to consider whether to contest the runoff, with the party claiming that around 70 of its supporters have been killed since the first round of voting on March 29.
At an informal meeting last Thursday with Security Council members, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called for “broader and stronger international action” to stop the violence and ensure a free and fair election in Zimbabwe.
Rice’s spokesman Sean McCormack said on Friday the US supported Mbeki’s efforts to negotiate a political solution in Zimbabwe, and did not rule out a national unity government as a possible outcome.
Rice on Thursday met with her South African counterpart, Nosazana Dlamini-Zuma, on the sidelines of an informal UN Security Council meeting on Zimbabwe, McCormack said.
During the meeting, he said, Rice noted “a change in tone” in South Africa’s position.
“I think the South African government has an increasing awareness that the eyes of the world are not only on Zimbabwe, but also on them, because they understand that ... they’re uniquely positioned vis-a-vis President Mugabe to try to bring about some positive outcome from a very dire situation,” McCormack said.
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