After Mbeki held talks with African Union commission chairman Jean Ping
and the United Nations’ top envoy to Harare, officials announced a new
body would be established to provide regular progress updates and allow
for greater input.
But although Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai greeted the
announcement as evidence that the Mbeki-led mediation was being
expanded, the South African government stressed that they remained in
charge.
Meanwhile foreign ministers of the 14-nation SADC bloc heard a warning
that the crisis sparked by disputed elections which ended in veteran
President Robert Mugabe’s re-election had the potential to destabilise
the whole region.
Although Mbeki made no comment after the talks, his right hand man in
the mediation process — a task first handed to him by his peers in
SADC a year ago — said a new "reference group" was being set up to
include the AU and UN.
"They will get briefings on a regular basis from the facilitator," said Sydney Mufamadi, a member of Mbeki’s cabinet.
"If a member of the reference group… wants to make a strategic input, they are welcome," he told reporters.
Haile Menkerios, the UN’s special representative to Zimbabwe, endorsed
Mbeki continuing in his role as mediator even though he has made little
headway so far in efforts to bring about some kind of power-sharing
arrangement.
"We fully support the effort of SADC, (and) the mediator," he said.
"This (the new reference group) is a way, a mechanism, through which that support could be expressed."
Meanwhile Ping also gave his support to Mbeki, saying he was "satisfied
by the briefing, by the decision" on the new reference group.
Tsvangirai’s Movement for Demoratic Change party and ZANU-PF began
preliminary talks last week aimed at establishing a framework for
substantive negotiations under South African mediation.
But Tsvangirai, who beat Mugabe into second place in the first round of
voting in March and does not recognise his old rival’s re-election, has
so far refused to put his name to a framework deal.
Although there had been hopes of an agreement being signed on
Wednesday, Mufamadi acknowledged that the talks between the two sides
were still stuck.
"Our understanding is that the parties are still considering the draft
of understanding that was produced by the negotiator," he said.
Tsvangirai, who has accused Mbeki of being too biased towards
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and previously called for him to be
axed as the chief mediator, meanwhile said he welcomed the involvement
of the AU and UN.
"We welcome the appointment of these eminent persons to work with
President Mbeki and I look forward to us all using our collective
energies to resolve the Zimbabwean crisis and alleviate the suffering
of the people in the shortest time possible," he told AFP.
The talks between between Ping and Mbeki were the pair’s first since Mugabe’s re-election in a one-man poll on June 27.
The ballot was widely denounced as a sham in the West after Tsvangirai
boycotted the run-off following a wave of deadly attacks on his
supporters.
The crisis also topped the agenda at a two-day meeting of SADC foreign
ministers in South Africa’s east coast city of Durban which kicked off
with an ominous warning from Angola, a traditional ally of Mugabe.
"This could be an obstacle to regional peace and has created an
unprecedented situation in the history of our organisation," Angolan
Foreign Minister Joao Miranda said.
"It’s a very worrying situation involving basic democratic
principles… There are many interpretations on the same phenomenon and
the unity and cohesion of SADC could be weakened by it."