Tsvangirai pulls out of Mbeki, Mugabe talks

Tsvangirai pulls out of Mbeki, Mugabe talks

MEETING: President Mbeki speaks during talks with President Mugabe and MDC leader Arthur Mutambara in Harare on Saturday

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By Lebo Nkatazo

SOUTH African President Thabo Mbeki’s bid to help end Zimbabwe’s deepening political crisis suffered a major setback on Saturday when opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out of a scheduled meeting with Mbeki and President Robert Mugabe, even though it was convened at his request.

Mbeki flew into Zimbabwe convinced he had secured the first face-to-face meeting between Mugabe and his main rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, but he left a dejected man after Tsvangirai pulled out at the eleventh hour.

Tsvangirai told Mbeki he had spoken to the African Union Commission chairman, Jean Ping, who advised him not to attend Saturday’s meeting until an expanded mediation team was in place – apparently the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader’s interpretation of an African Union resolution passed last week.

AU leaders meeting in Egypt, called for a unity government in Zimbabwe after President Mugabe won a controversial sixth term in elections boycotted by Tsvangirai – his only opponent in a presidential election run-off.

The MDC has said it has no confidence in President Mbeki’s mediation, but Tsvangirai had asked the South African leader to organise a meeting with Mugabe and a rival faction of the MDC led by Arthur Mutambara “to give a new mandate” to their negotiating teams.

At Saturday’s meeting was Mugabe, Vice President Joice Mujuru and the Zanu PF negotiating team of Nicholas Goche and Patrick Chinamasa. They were joined by Mutambara, his faction’s secretary general Welshman Ncube and the latter’s deputy, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga.

Misihairabwi told New Zimbabwe.com: “We were asked by President Mbeki to be at the meeting, and we were made to believe Tsvangirai and his negotiators Tendai Biti and Elton Mangoma would also attend.

“We went into the meeting and Mbeki reported that Tsvangirai had called him when he was already in Zimbabwe to say he had been advised not to attend by the AU Commission chairman until an expanded mediation team was in place.”

Mbeki told the officials he believed Tsvangirai’s interpretation of the AU resolution was incorrect, and he would be asking AU officials to clear that up with the MDC leader.

Misihairabwi said: “Mugabe said today that he had received a lot of information, including from churches, that Tsvangirai was keen to meet him. He was convinced Tsvangirai would attend this meeting.”

In the end, she said, the 30-minute meeting discussed “nothing of substance”, adding: “We couldn’t go on.”

Mbeki's spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga said: "Yes, the president earlier on Saturday met President Mugabe and Arthur Mutambara in the context of the mediation process."

Mbeki left for Japan soon after the meeting and was expected to make another effort to get Tsvangirai to meet Mugabe.
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