Mugabe Seeks Legitimacy at AU Summit

SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt — President Mugabe sought a boost of political legitimacy at a summit of African leaders today after his re-election was widely discredited as a sham.Mr. Mugabe’s fellow leaders appeared unlikely to strongly criticize him, despite Western calls for them to condemn the longtime leader.America has vowed to bring the issue of Zimbabwe before the U.N. Security Council this week, and Prime Minister Brown urged the AU to reject the result of Zimbabwe’s presidential runoff.Mr. Mugabe was the sole candidate in Friday’s vote. The opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, withdrew, saying his supporters had become targets of brutal state-sponsored violence.The summit should “make it absolutely clear that there has got to be change” in Zimbabwe, Mr. Brown said at London. “I think the message that is coming from the whole world is that the so-called elections will not be recognized.”84-year-old Mr. 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, the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, an American ally who has also come under international criticism over unfair elections.In meetings later, Mr. 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, the African Union’s head, Tanzania’s president, Jakaya Kikwete, congratulated the Zimbabwean people and AU mediators but not Mr. 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, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, condemned violence in general terms and called for dialogue.The AU’s leaders were expected to gently urge Mr. Mugabe to engage in some sort of power-sharing agreement with the country’s opposition, along the lines of a deal that ended violence in Kenya earlier this year.Africa should “do everything in its power to help the Zimbabwe parties to work together in the supreme interests in their country so as to overcome its current challenges,” the African Union Commission chairman, Jean Ping, told delegates.But some felt the summit should be doing more to pressure Mr. Mugabe. The Senegalese foreign minister, Cheikh Tidiane Gadio, noted that some Africans argue the West should “leave us alone and we be left to decide our own destiny.”But “then this is our destiny and then we don’t want to talk about it. That doesn’t make any sense,” he told reporters.One of the few African leaders openly critical of Mr. Mugabe, the Zambian president, Levy Mwanawasa, was not in attendance at the summit after he was rushed to Sharm el-Sheik’s hospital on Sunday. His vice president, Rupiah Banda, said Monday that 58-year-old Mr. Mwanawasa suffered a stroke and was in stable condition.“That is really bad luck for us,” said Mr. Gadio, because the Zambian leader’s absence could hurt attempts to put more pressure on Mr. Mugabe.The African Union’s own observers said today that the Zimbabwe runoff fell short of the continental body’s standards, citing violence and noting that the opposition was denied equal access to the media during the campaign.Mr. Tsvangirai said Mr. Mugabe should have no place at the summit and the AU now had a responsibility to deal with the crisis.“Robert Mugabe is not the legitimate leader of Zimbabwe,” Mr. Tsvangirai told The Associated Press. “He is usurping the power of the people. He has brutalized his own people.”The U.N. deputy secretary-general, Asha-Rose Migiro, echoed that call for action in an address to the delegates, saying the Zimbabwe crisis is “the single greatest challenge … in southern Africa, not only because its terrible humanitarian consequences but also because of the dangerous political precedent it sets.”Most African governments — including regional powerhouse South Africa — have been reluctant to criticize Mr. Mugabe, whether because of long-standing ties to the Zimbabwean leader or because they do not want to be seen as backing the West against a fellow African.Mr. Mugabe has threatened to point fingers at African leaders if they speak out against him.Zimbabwe’s government mouthpiece, The Herald, reported today that Mugabe “was prepared to face any of his AU counterparts disparaging Zimbabwe’s electoral conduct because some of their countries had worse” elections records.Zimbabwe is far from Africa’s only experience with flawed elections. For example, the summit’s host nation, American ally Egypt, is often criticized by international rights groups for jailing dissidents to Mr. Mubarak’s nearly 27-year rule, and recent elections saw violence as police barred opposition supporters from the polls.Electoral officials said yesterday that Mr. Mugabe won 85 percent of the vote in Friday’s runoff, which observers said was marred by violence and intimidation. Just hours after he was declared the winner, Mr. Mugabe, who has been Zimbabwe’s leader since independence in 1980, sounded a conciliatory note.“Sooner or later, as diverse political parties, we shall start serious talks,” he said in a speech following his swearing-in yesterday. He also had promised talks on the eve of the vote.Many world leaders have condemned Friday’s runoff. Today, France’s foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, said France “decided that this government is illegitimate” and called the re-election of Mr. Mugabe a “farce, a criminal electoral comedy.”He expressed hopes African leaders would be firm with Mr. Mugabe at the summit. But he also acknowledged that “for many Africans, Mugabe was long a great liberator” as an anti-colonial hero, which complicates matters.”President Bush has said America was working on ways to further punish Mr. Mugabe and his allies. That could mean steps against his government as well as additional restrictions on the travel and financial activities of Mr. Mugabe supporters. America has financial and travel penalties in place against more than 170 citizens and entities with ties to Mr. Mugabe, the White House says.Mr. Bush also wants the U.N. Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Zimbabwe as well as travel bans on Zimbabwe government officials.

Mugabe Seeks Legitimacy at AU Summit

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