Leaders of Africa's two most powerful nations intervened today in Zimbabwe's electoral crisis, as unions called a three-day strike in protest at the vote that returned President Mr Robert Mugabe to power.
Presidents Mr Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Mr Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria said after holding separate talks with Mr Mugabe and opposition leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai that politics aside, Zimbabwe's leaders needed to join forces against serious economic threats.
"Whatever may be said about other things, Zimbabwe at this point in time needs assistance to get it out of its economic difficulties," Mr 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.
Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai should report back to the two visiting leaders within days on specific proposals, after discussions with their parties, Mr Obasanjo said.
Mr 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 Mr Mugabe nor Mr Tsvangirai made any public remarks after the meeting.
Mr Obasanjo and Mr Mbeki were here to discuss a way forward for Zimbabwe in the wake of the March 9-11 election, which returned Mr Mugabe to power amid widespread allegations of voterigging.
Only hours after their meetings, the powerful Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions called a three-day strike beginning Wednesday, telling workers to stay home, ZCTU secretary general Mr Wellington Chibebe told reporters.
"We are defending our rights as workers," Mr 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, where Mr Obasanjo, Mr Mbeki and Australian Prime Minister Mr John Howard have been tasked with making a decision on Zimbabwe after a Commonwealth summit early this month failed to reach a consensus.
They are under instructions to make the decision on the basis of the report from the Commonwealth election observers, who condemned the polling in detailed, categorical terms.
Mr Tsvangirai had been tipped to win in a free and fair vote, but the polls were preceded by weeks of violence, and the election itself was 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 today that Mr Terry Ford, who was in his mid-50s, was shot dead overnight on his farm west of Harare.
Mr Ford had been visited late yesterday by about 20 liberation war veterans, CFU spokeswoman Ms Jenni Williams told reporters.
In his inauguration speech Sunday, Mr Mugabe promised to accelerate his land reforms begun in July 2000, which aim to resettle blacks on white-owned farms in a bid to correct colonial-era inequities.
Nigeria and South Africa last week both deemed the presidential election legitimate, but neither Mr Obasanjo nor Mr Mbeki have made explicit statements.
They were expected to push for a national unity government in Zimbabwe -- an idea that has already been rejected out of hand by both camps here.
Britain, the European Union, the United States, local Zimbabwean observers, and the Commonwealth observer team have all condemned the polling that extended Mr Mugabe's 22-year grip on power, while African countries have generally stood behind Mr Mugabe.
The Commonwealth observer team, led by Nigerian former military ruler Mr Abdulsalami Abubakar, included several eminent persons from African countries.
Mr Mbeki and Mr Obasanjo, finding themselves in a diplomatic bind, stayed away from Mr Mugabe's reinauguration ceremony Sunday in an apparent bid to appear neutral ahead of the crucial Commonwealth troika meeting in London.
AFP