AFRICAN UNION:THE AFRICAN Union last night adopted a resolution calling for Robert Mugabe and his opponents to form a national unity government, in an attempt to contain a political crisis that threatened to cause a bitter rift among the continent's leaders.
The closing resolution of the AU summit backs African-mediated talks between Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai, aimed at creating a unified government.
It backed a Southern African mediation initiative led by South African president Thabo Mbeki.
The statement also appealed to "states and all parties concerned to refrain from any actions that may negatively impact on the climate of dialogue", an apparent criticism of UN sanctions being promoted by the US and Britain.
The resolution emerged as the lowest common denominator between leaders at the summit who wanted to challenge Mr Mugabe's legitimacy after single-candidate elections on Friday and others who wanted to acclaim the leader.
The crisis has brought to the surface simmering tensions among African leaders over whether legitimacy can only be achieved through the ballot box. Those tensions came to a head yesterday evening with an extraordinary call from Zimbabwe's neighbour, Botswana, for Mr Mugabe to be thrown out of African institutions.
Botswana's vice-president, Lieut Gen Mompati Merafhe, declared that the outcome of last Friday's elections, in which Mr Mugabe was the sole candidate "does not confer legitimacy on the government of president Mugabe.
"In our considered view, it therefore follows that the representatives of the current 'government' in Zimbabwe should be excluded from attending SADC and African Union meetings."
Nigeria also warned the AU against hiding Zimbabwe's problems behind a "fig leaf of sovereignty". Taking the floor in a closed session, Mr Mugabe spoke at length and delivered a blistering counter-attack on his accusers, according to diplomats at the summit.
Its tone was summed up by his spokesman, who said those who questioned Mr Mugabe's legitimacy could "go and hang. They can go to hang a million times. They have no claim on Zimbabwean politics". After his address to the summit, Mr Mugabe headed to the airport to fly home to a country still in chaos.
It was unclear last night how a dialogue would be orchestrated between the two sides. George Charamba, the Zimbabwean government spokesman, emerged from the closed-door summit to hit back against Mr Mugabe's accusers. He rejected proposals for a Kenyan-style unity government and accused the Kenyan prime minister, Raila Odinga, of having hands "dripping with blood".
It was a defiant performance that dampened hopes of a deal, along the lines of the agreement brokered earlier this year that ended post-election violence in Kenya.
"Kenya is Kenya. Zimbabwe is Zimbabwe. We have our own history of evolving dialogue and resolving political impasses the Zimbabwean way. The Zimbabwean way, not the Kenyan way. Not at all," Mr Charamba said. "The way out is a way defined by the Zimbabwe people, free from outside interference, and that is exactly what will resolve the matter."
Reminded that Mr Odinga, the former opposition leader who became prime minister as part of the Kenyan deal, had called for Mr Mugabe to be ejected from the African Union summit, Mr Charamba launched a vitriolic attack. He blamed Mr Odinga for the bloodshed in Kenya.
"I take it you saw the blood that flowed in that election. I hope you realise that Raila Odinga's hands drip with blood, raw African blood, and they are not going to be cleansed by any amount of criticism of Zimbabwe," Mr Charamba said.
He also denounced Mark Malloch-Brown, the British foreign office minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, pointing out that he was raised in the former colony of Rhodesia, present-day Zimbabwe.
"When he pronounces himself on Zimbabwe, he is recalling the historical period when the white man reigned supreme. That period is gone. Gone for ever," Mr Charamba said.
Zimbabwe's opposition party yesterday also played down prospects of a deal with the Mugabe government. Mr Mbeki was reported in the Business Day newspaper as being close to brokering an agreement between Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai that would lead to a unity government.
"The plan involves getting Mugabe and Tsvangirai to work together to implement agreements between Zanu-PF and the MDC made in January. These include a new constitution and other reforms," the report said.
But an MDC spokesman, George Sibotshiwe, said: "There is no truth in that. There is no deal. Unless the African Union can identify Mugabe as illegitimate there is no deal." - (Guardian service)