ZIMBABWE:THE ZIMBABWEAN opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has told South African president Thabo Mbeki that he is no longer fit to serve as the region's mediator in Zimbabwe's political crisis owing to a "lack of neutrality", and that "there will be no country left" if Mr Mbeki continues to side with President Robert Mugabe.
The warning comes in a letter from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader to Mr Mbeki made public just days after it was revealed that the South African president had written a four-page letter to George Bush demanding that the US president stop criticising Mr Mugabe.
In his letter, Mr Tsvangirai accuses Mr Mbeki of colluding with Mr Mugabe to downplay the deepening political crisis, of blocking UN Security Council discussions on Zimbabwe and of trying to facilitate a controversial weapons delivery from China to the Zimbabwean military.
But some of the strongest criticism is over Mr Mbeki's reaction to the escalating state-sponsored campaign of murder, violence and arrests against the opposition in the run-up to the run-off presidential election between Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai at the end of this month. At least 50 people have been killed and thousands have endured beatings.
The letter, dated May 13th, accuses South Africa's president of ignoring evidence that Harare was planning the violence, including a leaked Zimbabwean military document outlining the strategy that Mr Tsvangirai personally handed to Mr Mbeki.
"When you started mediating, Zimbabwe still had a functioning economy, millions of our citizens had not fled to other countries to escape political and economic crisis, and tens of thousands had not yet died from impoverishment and disease. In fact, since the March 29th election, Zimbabwe has plunged into horrendous violence while you have been mediating. With respect, if we continue like this, there will be no country left," writes Mr Tsvangirai.
"As you know, when MDC attempted to appeal to the UN Security Council to investigate and help stop the carnage, it was you, the so-called 'neutral' mediator, who blocked a possible road to resolution of the crisis."
Mr Tsvangirai says Mr Mbeki continued to act as if everything was normal, even after the Zimbabwean government blocked the release of results showing that Mr Mugabe and Zanu-PF had lost.
"Your lack of neutrality became increasingly evident when I arrived to the Lusaka summit to see you and Mr Mugabe on television together proclaiming there is 'no crisis' in Zimbabwe."
Mr Tsvangirai also accuses the South African government of facilitating the delivery of weapons via Durban from a Chinese ship that was eventually turned away by dock workers and legal action.
"Not only have you been unable to denounce the well-documented post-election attacks on our people, but your government even played a role in Zimbabwean government procurement of weapons . . . to allow passage of arms of war purchased by the same government through South African territory during the troubled post-election period," he writes.
The letter demands that Mr Mbeki step down as the Southern African Development Community mediator on Zimbabwe.
His spokesman, Mukoni Ratshitanga, has denied knowledge of the letter even though the MDC says it has a receipt showing it was delivered to Mr Mbeki's office. Mr Ratshitanga has also denied knowledge of the letter to Mr Bush revealed by the Washington Postlast week in an article which quotes an unnamed US official as saying Mr Mbeki told the president to "butt out" of Zimbabwe.
Yesterday, the leader of a breakaway MDC faction, Arthur Mutambara, was arrested and charged in connection with a newspaper column criticising Mr Mugabe's handling of the economy and accusing the security forces of abuses.
- (Guardian service)