 Mugabe seeks boost at summit
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-01 07:57 Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe was welcomed by his peers yesterday at an African summit, hoping for a boost of political legitimacy after a disputed re-election. His fellow African leaders appeared unlikely to strongly criticize him, despite Western calls for them to condemn the longtime leader. The United States has vowed to bring the issue of Zimbabwe before the UN Security Council this week, and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged the AU to reject the result of Zimbabwe's presidential runoff, in which Mugabe stood as the sole candidate. The summit should "make it absolutely clear that there has got to be change" in Zimbabwe, Brown said in London. "I think the message that is coming from the whole world is that the so-called elections will not be recognized." African leaders were likely to take a softer line here, mindful that few of them can throw stones over election issues, though behind the scenes there were some differences on how much pressure to put on Mugabe.
At the summit opening, the 84-year-old Mugabe basked in the opportunity to show regional recognition of his victory, a day after he was sworn in as president for a sixth term following Friday's voting. He entered the conference hall alongside his host, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. In meetings later, Mugabe hugged several heads of states and other diplomats, said one African delegate who was present. "He was hugging everyone, pretty much everyone he could get close to," said the delegate, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meetings were closed to the media. In his opening address to the gathering in this Egyptian Red Sea resort, the African Union's head, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, danced around the crisis, congratulating the Zimbabwean people and AU mediators but not Mugabe himself. He called the elections "historic" but also said there were challenges. A draft resolution written by AU foreign ministers and due to be approved by leaders at the summit does not criticize the runoff election or Mugabe. The draft condemned violence in general terms and called for dialogue. Agencies (China Daily 07/01/2008 page11) |
