Addressing a press conference in Dar es Salaam, Mr Membe said the just ended African Union Heads of State Summit had declared null and void the June 27presidential run-off election, in which Mr Mugabe was the sole candidate.MDC candidate Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew a week before the poll, citing increasing violence against his supporters.
Responding to a reporter who had asked him to state Tanzania’s stand on Mr Mugabe’s controversial election victory, Mr Membe said: “If you consider the reports of the election monitors, the issue of whether or not we recognise Mugabe does not arise. That election was not valid.”
Election monitors from the South African Development Community (Sadc), the African Union (AU) and the Pan African Parliament all gave reports that cast serious doubts on the credibility of the elections.
Yesterday, the minister said the violence during the campaigns had made it impossible to conduct a free and fair election.
“The decision not to recognise the Zimbabwean election has been endorsed by the AU and Sadc after adopting the election monitors’ reports,” said Mr
Membe, who is also the chairman of the AU foreign affairs ministers.He was briefing journalists on the Summit in Egypt, just a day after
returning home.
The minister said that during the summit, no leader had endorsed the Zimbabwean election or congratulated Mr Mugabe on his supposed victory.
Mr Mugabe defied an appeal by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon,international condemnation, and pleas by his fellow African leaders to call
off the election. And after being hurriedly sworn in, he flew to Egypt to attend the Heads of State Summit.
Yesterday, Mr Membe said: “There was no one at the Summit who was happy about what happened in Zimbabwe. In fact, all the members denounced the election.”
The Tanzanian minister compared the Zimbabwean election to a football match in which an offside goal was allowed to count.
“This was like a football match where a player touches the ball and scores,but unfortunately, the referee allows it. It is not a goal scored in the
normal way.”Mr Membe said the reports of the 413 observers who monitored the elections had been useful, as they had enabled the AU and Sadc to reach a verdict.
The AU then mandated Sadc to immediately lead a mediation process that would bring together Mr Mugabe’s Zanu-PF and Movement of Democratic Change party leaders to form a government of national unity.
Mr Membe said a meeting of the regional leaders would soon be held to review the progress made in the peace process. “No one party will be able to govern in Zimbabwe as things stand now. Zanu-PF cannot rule alone and negotiations will be the only way out,” he said.
During the summit, Mr Membe said, the AU chairman, President Jakaya Kikwete,had told Mr Mugabe to his face go back home and think about what the leaders had decided.The chairman told Mr Mugabe that the situation in his country could only get worse if he does not think seriously about the advice given to him.
As Mr Membe spoke, international pressure was mounting on Zimbabwe, with the UK and Germany declaring that stern measures and sanctions would be imposed to push for the formation of an inclusive government in Harare.British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said there was widespread agreement that action must be taken to change the status quo in Zimbabwe, possibly with the help of a peacekeeping force.
“Virtually the whole international community is saying the status quo cannot continue, the MDC has got to be recognised for the electoral support it
has,” Mr Brown told a group of cross-party British lawmakers.”There will be no support for this regime until democracy is restored, we
will intensify the sanctions unless action is taken to change the status quo.”Mr Brown said the second election was a “travesty of justice? and that
during that election the “regime has blood on its hands for what has happened”.
Leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised nations will discuss sharpening sanctions against Zimbabwe at a summit in Japan next week, a
senior German government official said on Thursday.”Britain is pushing for a separate statement on this,” said the official,who spoke to reporters in Berlin and asked not to be identified by name.
Britain wanted G8 leaders to emphasise in the statement that they did not recognise the re-election of President Mugabe and to include a section
saying that tighter sanctions should be considered, the German official added. “I think the initiative has a good chance,” he said, adding that
Germany supported it.
The United States is pushing for tougher sanctions against Zimbabwe’s leadership through the UN, but Security Council diplomats say South Africa,
Russia and China oppose Washington’s plans.A US-drafted resolution seen by Reuters on Wednesday includes asset freezes and travel bans for officials including Mr Mugabe and the central bank chief.
The Citizen Daily: (Tanzania)
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