TORONTO STAR
BY OAKLAND ROSS
Apr 13, 2008 04:30 AM
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA–The guest of honour failed to show up; the most powerful man in the room said there was nothing to worry about; everyone talked for a while and then went home.
But an emergency summit of southern African leaders held yesterday in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, failed to do what many had hoped – find some way to prevent what they see as a virtual coup d’état from being carried out in Zimbabwe, where octogenarian ruler Robert Mugabe seems determined to cling to power despite his party’s apparent rejection at the polls in a March 29 vote.
The Zimbabwean leader failed to attend the Lusaka meeting, interpreted by many as a snub of his regional counterparts.
“Mugabe is determined to hold on to power,” said David Coltart, an opposition Movement for Democratic Change Senator.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday condemned the apparent fraud now underway in Zimbabwe, where acts of government-sponsored violence have begun, aimed against opposition supporters, and where no electoral results in the presidential contest have been released, more than two weeks after the vote.
“This is a completely intolerable situation,” said Brown. “Any intimidation, any violence, is unacceptable.” He said the patience of the international community is “wearing thin.”
But South African President Thabo Mbeki – widely seen as the man in the best position to influence Mugabe – deflated hopes yesterday he might use his country’s considerable leverage to achieve a democratic solution in Zimbabwe.
After stopping off in Harare for talks with Mugabe on his way to the Lusaka summit, Mbeki downplayed the situation in Zimbabwe.
“I wouldn’t describe that as a crisis,” he told reporters.
Mbeki has spent much of the past year mediating between Mugabe and his opponents, but the South African leader has come under fire for his “quiet diplomacy” and his failure to make much headway with Mugabe, 84, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980.
Last week, Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa called the emergency summit of African leaders to address the situation in Zimbabwe, raising hopes in some quarters that a peaceful solution to the country’s troubles might be found.
But Mugabe stayed put and dispatched several ministers.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s electoral commission will recount ballots from the March 29 vote next Saturday, a state newspaper reported today.