Tsvangirai urges Zimbabwe transition government talks (2nd Roundup)

Jun 25, 2008, 18:04 GMT

Zimbabwe\'s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai addresses the media as he called for peacekeepers to resolve his country\'s political crisis, Harare, Zimbabwe, 25 June 2008. Tsvangirai is reported to have gone back to the Dutch Embassy where he has been taking shelter. EPA/STR

Harare/Johannesburg - Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Wednesday called for the African Union (AU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which was holding a summit on Zimbabwe, to lead a UN-backed transitional government period to help the country out of its crisis.

Speaking at his home - having briefly left the Dutch embassy where he sought refuge on Sunday - Tsvangirai urged that 'genuine and honest dialogue amongst Zimbabweans is the best way forward,' seen as an appeal for talks with President Robert Mugabe.

His remark followed an assertion from Mugabe on Wednesday stating that he was 'open to negotiations with anyone,' contrary to the hardline stance he has adopted up to now.

Tsvangirai said he was asking the AU and the SADC, the 14-nation regional bloc, 'to lead an expanded initiative, supported by the United Nations, to manage the transitional process.'

'We are proposing that the AU facilitation team, comprising eminent Africans, set up a transitional period which takes into account the will of the people of Zimbabwe.

'The AU team would lead in the constituting and character of the transitional period,' which, he said, 'would allow the country to heal.'

He appealed for the initiative to be launched by a meeting of African heads of state in Egypt this weekend.

He said he had discussed the plan with the chairman of the African Union, Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete, and the SADC chairman, Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa, as well as other African leaders and foreign ministers.

'Our proposal to move this country through some kind of a transition is being accepted as a solution to soft-land this crisis.

The appeals follows the formal withdrawal from the presidential run-off poll this week of Tsvangirai, who is the leading contender in the ballot after winning the most votes in the first round on March 29.

He said that discussions would not move forward without the release of MDC secretary general Tendai Biti, in police custody on allegations since June 12.

The High Court in Zimbabwe is expected to make a ruling on whether Biti will be granted bail. Biti is facing charges of spreading false information prejudicial to the state, bringing the office of the president into disrepute and causing disaffection amont armed forces.

'The state opposed the bail but we are hopeful for a favourable judgment from the judge,' Biti's lawyer Lewis Uriri said.

The charges stem from a document titled The Transitional Strategy, which Biti is said to have authored ahead of the March elections. He, however, denies he wrote the document, which his lawyers describe as 'doctored.'

After the conference Tsvangirai returned to the Dutch embassy, where he said he would stay as long as necessary.

Dutch foreign minister Maxime Verhagen told the opposition leader Wednesday morning by phone that he would remain welcome in the embassy at all times.

The state-controlled daily Herald Wednesday quoted Mugabe as saying that he was 'open to negotiations with anyone, but the logical process has to be followed to its logical conclusion.'

'We are open, open to discussion but we have our own principles,' it quoted him as saying at a rally north of Harare on Tuesday. 'However, those who seek to impose themselves on us and make idiotic noises would not bother us.'

Observers say Mugabe appears to have shifted his stance from a week ago when he was put under pressure by Mbeki, the mediator appointed by the SADC.

Mbeki is reported to have been pressing Mugabe to enter negotiations for a settlement to Zimbabwe's crisis through a government of national unity with the MDC, but sources said he was firmly rebuffed then by the 84-year-old dictator.

The SADC was holding a crisis meeting in Swaziland Wednesday on the situation in Zimbabwe which was being attended by the leaders of Tanzania, Angola and Swaziland.

The doors were 'still open' for Mbeki to attend the crisis SADC summit, a spokesman for Swaziland's government said.

Spokesman Percy Simelane said, 'South Africa is not in the troika, so will not be attending. But, I think the doors are open for South Africa ... if they wish to come and take part in the discussions.'

The meeting, in Mbabane, was called by Swaziland's King Mswati, who chairs the three states, Tanzania, Angola and Swaziland, making up SADC's safety and security organ.

Simelane said the meeting was called amid allegations of intimidation and killings ahead of Friday's elections.

The legitimacy of Friday's controversial election received another blow Wednesday when independent local observers announced they would not monitor the poll because of 'blatant attempts' by Mugabe's regime to prevent them from carrying out their duties.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network, which has earned international respect since monitoring all elections in Zimbabwe since 2000, said it was 'greatly concerned' as the 'blatant and deliberate attempts to ensure that the domestic observer election observers do not play any meaningful role in the election.'

It said it was also 'gravely concerned about the safety of its observers given the deliberate targeting' of ZESN staff during the wave of violence that followed the first round of elections in March 29.

It said one observer, Elliot Machipisa, had been killed, 30 others had been beaten and 200 were now displaced. Reports were made to police but to date, 'no action has been taken.'

Incidents of hundreds of other observers being forced out of their homes by gangs of ruling party militiamen were unreported.

In late April, police raided ZESN's Harare office and the home of the director, Noel Kututwa, on allegations of 'possession of subversive material.'

ZESN fielded 8,667 observers in the March election, and applied early this month for over 11,000 for the run-off vote. The government gave permission for only for 500 and by Sunday this week, state electoral authorities had managed to accredit only 86.

'Given that there are only two days left before the election, it is neither practical nor possible' to train, accredit and deploy staff, it said.

Analysts say the presence of ZESN's observers in March was crucial in preventing fraud and rigging. The MDC won a majority in parliament, while Tsvangirai failed to win more than 50 per cent of the vote needed for an absolute majority.