MBABANE, Swaziland (AFP) — African leaders failed to persuade Zimbabwe opposition chief Morgan Tsvangirai to attend a summit of southern states Monday, leaving power-sharing diplomacy firmly stalled.
Regional intervention to resolve Zimbabwe's political crisis had been sought by all sides after direct talks with President Robert Mugabe last week broke down over the distribution of cabinet posts, and principally who would control state security forces via the home office.
But the initiative ground to a halt in Swaziland due to Harare's failure to issue Tsvangirai -- due to become prime minister under a September 15 accord -- with a full passport, and the next scheduled meeting is not now due for another seven days, back in Zimbabwe.
The impasse prompted an official at the US State Department to warn of additional sanctions being imposed by Washington, with neighbouring Botswana saying the stance of Mugabe's regime was "unfortunate, totally unacceptable and an indication of bad faith."
Swaziland holds the chair of the Southern African Development Community's organ on politics, security and defence, and arrangements were even made "to charter a jet to go to Harare to pick up Mr Tsvangirai, so that he can come to the meeting," MDC splinter-group leader Arthur Mutambara told AFP on the sidelines of the summit.
Mugabe, SADC-appointed mediator and former South African president Thabo Mbeki, his successor, President Kgalema Motlanthe, Swazi King Mswati III and Mozambican President Armando Emilio Guebuza were all at the meeting.
They were joined by Joseph Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, with talks also scheduled on the conflict in his country.
The result of Tsvangirai's no-show is that talks aimed at breaking a five-week deadlock have been delayed until October 27.
"Tsvangirai was supposed to attend, but due to technical problems, which have occurred from his side, he was not able to come. That's why the meeting is taking place in Harare," Swazi King Mswati III told journalists.
Tsvangirai's MDC said the former union leader had only received emergency travel papers late Sunday, calling the delay an "insult" to the man meant to become prime minister under a September 15 unity deal that leaves 84-year-old Mugabe as head of state.
The MDC leader has not been granted a normal passport for nearly a year, and is only allowed to leave the country on documents valid for a single trip.
"We are not travelling with this (emergency document). It's an insult," the MDC's chief negotiator Tendai Biti told reporters in Johannesburg, but he also added: "We'll be the last to walk out of the deal."
Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba said there was only a temporary document "because Zimbabwe is running out of paper for passports... because of sanctions."
"Should Mugabe renege on this power-sharing agreement, the United States... is prepared to impose additional sanctions," US State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood told reporters.
US officials later specified that these could involve imposing new travel restrictions on people close to Mugabe who have not already been affected.
"I think it is in many ways a power-game because they understand that Mugabe can't have any legitimacy without the MDC," said Siphamandla Zondi of the Institute for Global Dialogue.
"By withdrawing (Tsvangirai's) presence, they undermine the legitimacy of the ZANU-PF government and what it is trying to do," Zondi told AFP.
Mbeki mediated four long days of talks between the rivals in Harare last week, before turning to the SADC in the hope of finding a solution.
Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe, who has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980, in a first-round presidential vote in March, when the MDC also forced ZANU-PF into the minority in parliament for the first time.
He failed to win enough votes for an outright victory and then pulled out of the run-off in June, accusing the regime of coordinating a brutal campaign of violence that left scores of his supporters dead.
The political deadlock has dimmed hopes for halting Zimbabwe's stunning economic collapse, with the country buckling under the world's highest rate of inflation last recorded at 231 million percent.
Nearly half the population needs UN food aid, while 80 percent of the people are living in poverty.
Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
