ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — African Union Commission Chairman Jean Ping on Monday voiced "grave concern" over the situation in Zimbabwe following the main opposition candidate's withdrawal from the presidential run-off.
Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) opposition party, quit the presidential election second round run-off on Sunday, saying increasing violence had made a free and fair election impossible.
"This development and the increasing acts of violence in the run-up to the second round of the presidential election are a matter of grave concern to the AU Commission," a statement from Jean Ping's office said.
The statement said Ping had initiated contacts with Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, who is the current AU chairman, as well as with the 14-nation Southern African Development Community and other regional powers over means of addressing the election crisis in Zimbabwe.
"In the meantime, the Chairperson of the Commission stresses the need for all Zimbabwean stakeholders to exercise restraint and reiterates his call for an immediate end to all acts of violence," the statement said.
"He urges all Zimbabwean parties to work together to overcome the challenges facing their country in this critical phase of its history," it added.
Tsvangirai's withdrawal from the June 27 run-off and the escalating political violence in Zimbabwe drew stark reactions from world powers.
Both London and Washington said they were prepared to raise their concerns in the United Nations Security Council on Monday.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon thought Tsvangirai's decision was a "deeply distressing development" that did not bode well for the future of democracy in Zimbabwe.
The European Union's Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel said he expected Africa's leaders to "firmly condemn the situation in Zimbabwe and do whatever is possible to resolve the crisis for the good of the Zimbabwean people and democracy in Africa".
An African Union summit to be held in Egypt June 30-July 1 will be preceded by a ministerial meeting that starts on the day the second round of Zimbabwe's presidential election has been scheduled.
The EU presidency meanwhile said it was up to African organisations, notably the African Union and the Southern African Development Community, to make a new commitment to solve the crisis.
Senegal's Le Quotidien newspaper asked Monday: "Where is the UA in this deep political crisis?
"One cannot rely on the continent's heads of state who are unable to intervene politically with efficiency in this kind of situation".
Africa's leader seem "more concerned (...) about their own little domestic business, acting differently from Mugabe but for the same anti-democratic purposes," and leaving the African Union powerless.
Tsvangirai, who took refuge at the Netherlands embassy in Harare Monday, failed to clinch an outright majority in the first round that took place in March, according to official results.
The opposition says more than 80 of its supporters have since been killed and thousands injured in a campaign of intimidation led by President Robert Mugabe's regime ahead of the vote.
Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
