Zimbabwe Crisis Talks Pause Pending Clarification Of AU Mediation Role
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai says he asked AU Commission Chairman Jean Ping and received a promise that an AU envoy would mediat
Talks between Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF and opposition Movement for Democratic Change preliminary to power-sharing negotiations have beensuspended pending the outcome of consultations between President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and African Union Commission Chairman Jean Ping in Pretoria Friday as to the composition of the mediation team. MDCfounding president Morgan Tsvangirai says he asked Ping and received a promise that the African Union would name an envoy to mediate alongside Mr. Mbeki, appointed mediator in March 2007 by the Southern African Development Community in March 2007. Sources informed on the talksdenied reports that ZANU-PF and the MDC formation headed by Arthur Mutambara had signed the memorandum of understanding that is on the table,saying that consultations between all the parties to the talks were still underway. The Harare talks could also be influencedby the outcome of a two-day meeting of the SADC troika on politics and defensein Durban, South Africa. SADC sources said the three-nation steering committee would look at the Zimbabwecrisis and other regional security issues. Meanwhile, church leaders from the Southern African Development Community region submitted a petition to Mr. Mbeki’s office on Thursday asking him to step up his efforts to find a political solution inZimbabwe and urging him to mediate more firmly. General Secretary M.D. Dibeela of the United Congregational Church of Southern Africapresented the petition after a meeting of church leaders in Pretoria to discussthe crisis and determine what role churches could play in resolving thepost-election impasse. . Elsewhere, sources in Bulawayo said about 20 opposition youths were severely beaten and arrested after they staged ademonstration to press for expansion of the mediation team. It was the firstpolitical protest in the city since the June 27 presidentialrun-off election in which President Robert Mugabe claimed victory to widespread international condemnation. Some residents who had planned to join thedemonstration backed off when police forcefully suppressed the marchleaving some protesters bleeding and others with broken limbs.