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Strike Called, Food Crisis, Diplomatic Efforts Stepped Up In Zimbabwe
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Africa's Mbeki, left, and Zimbabwe's Mugabe
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HARARE, March 18 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Amid reports about a food crisis in Zimbabwe, leaders of Africa's two most powerful nations intervened Monday in the electoral crisis, as unions called a three-day strike protesting President Robert Mugabe’s stay in power.
Presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria said after separate talks with Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai that politics aside, Zimbabwe's leaders needed to join forces against serious economic threats, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"Whatever may be said about other things, Zimbabwe at this point in time needs assistance to get it out of its economic difficulties," Obasanjo told a press conference, citing shortages of basic foods and a continuing drought.
"That help may not come unless all the leaders of Zimbabwe put all their heads together and work together in a way that can bring... help and hope," he said.
Mbeki and Obasanjo declined to comment on the specific nature of the talks, but there is speculation that they were exploring the possibility of a power-sharing arrangement with the opposition, according to BBC’s online news service.
Reports talked about both African leaders pushing for a national unity government in Zimbabwe. This idea has already been rejected out of hand by both camps.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai should report back to Mbeki and Obasanjo within days on specific proposals, after discussions with their parties, Obasanjo said.
Mbeki told the press conference after their talks that the "responsibility rests first and foremost and principally on the leadership of Zimbabwe" to solve the nation's problems. "It is for that Zimbabwean leadership to set their own agenda," he said.
Neither Mugabe nor Tsvangirai made any public remarks after the meeting.
Obasanjo and Mbeki were in the Zimbabwean capital to discuss a way forward for Zimbabwe following the March 9-11 election, which returned Mugabe to power amid widespread allegations of vote-rigging.
In another serious development, the powerful Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions called a three-day strike beginning Wednesday, March 20, telling workers to stay home, ZCTU Secretary General Wellington Chibebe told AFP.
"We are defending our rights as workers," Chibebe said, adding that the strike was protesting "in particular the harassment workers have received in the aftermath of the presidential election."
"We are saying people should stay home," Chibebe said.
The announcement came on the eve of a Commonwealth meeting in London. Obasanjo, Mbeki and Australian Prime Minister John Howard have been tasked with making a decision on Zimbabwe after a Commonwealth summit early this month failed to reach a consensus.
The three men are under instructions to make the decision based on the report from the Commonwealth election observers, who condemned the polling in detailed, categorical terms.
Tsvangirai had been reportedly tipped to win in a free and fair vote, but the polls were preceded by weeks of violence, and the election itself was, according to western media reports, marred by widespread irregularities documented by observers.
Political violence has continued since the poll, with the death toll rising to 35 since the start of the year, and the overnight murder of a white farmer by ruling party supporters, according to the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU).
The CFU reported Monday that Terry Ford, who was in his mid-50s, was shot dead overnight on his farm west of Harare, AFP reported.
Ford had been visited late Sunday by about 20 liberation war veterans, CFU spokeswoman Jenni Williams told AFP.
In his inauguration speech Sunday, Mugabe promised to accelerate his land reforms begun in July 2000, which aim to resettle blacks on white-owned farms to correct colonial-era inequities.
Nigeria and South Africa last week both deemed the presidential election legitimate, but neither Obasanjo nor Mbeki have made explicit statements.
Britain, the European Union, the United States, local Zimbabwean observers, and the Commonwealth observer team have all condemned the polling that extended Mugabe's 22-year grip on power, while African countries have generally stood behind Mugabe.
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