(AFP) – Jun 30, 2008

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AFP) — Robert Mugabe was attending an African Union summit in Egypt on Monday amid growing calls for African leaders to shun the Zimbabwean president over his widely discredited election win.

The AU's top conflict prevention body, the 15-member Peace and Security Council (PSC), ended intensive talks on Zimbabwe late Sunday by referring the thorny issue of how to deal with Mugabe to the two-day summit itself.

Mugabe, 84, was sworn in for a sixth term on Sunday, having been declared the election winner after opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew because of violence.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon slammed Friday's vote result as illegitimate, and Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change told African leaders they had an "historic opportunity" to denounce the election as a sham.

"The secretary-general has said repeatedly that conditions were not in place for a free and fair election and observers have confirmed this from the deeply flawed process," Ban's spokeswoman Marie Okabe said.

"The outcome did not reflect the true and genuine will of the Zimbabwean people or produce a legitimate result," the statement said.

AU commission spokesman El-Ghassim Wane said on Sunday that Zimbabwe would certainly be discussed at the summit but remained cagey on any possible sanctions, saying "if there is a decision to take it will be taken at the level of the Union's summit."

Apparently seeking to temper potential African hostility amid questions over whether his fellow African leaders would refer to him as "Mr President," Mugabe used his swearing-in to call for dialogue.

"It is my hope that sooner rather than later, we shall as diverse political parties hold consultations towards such serious dialogue as will minimise our difference and enhance the area of unity and cooperation," Mugabe said.

So far there has been no consensus among the AU's 53 member states, with the pan-African body issuing diplomatic statements and pushing for a power-sharing arrangement between Mugabe and Tsvangirai's MDC.

On the summit sidelines, MDC spokesman George Sibotshiwe called for the AU to appoint an envoy to bolster South African President Thabo Mbeke's much-criticised mediation efforts on behalf of the Southern African Development Community.

"This is a historic moment for African leaders. Our expectation is fairly simple -- there has to be an acceptance that the election of 27 June was a sham," said Sibotshiwe.

"They have to create some type of plan to assist with the violence on the ground. The crisis has escalated beyond the reach of SADC and therefore requires the African Union to participate."

"This is not an exclusive matter for any country," said Sibotshiwe. "This is a continental matter... that must be resolved by Africans."

The SADC was reportedly trying to draw up a text to put to the summit, including power-sharing possibilities.

African leaders have warned that the crisis could destabilise southern Africa and that power cannot be handed entirely either to Mugabe or to Tsvangirai because of the country's political polarisation.

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, among the veteran leader's most vocal critics, has called on the bloc to send troops into Zimbabwe, and labelled Mugabe "a shame to Africa."

However, Kenya, which is emerging from its own deadly political crisis sparked by disputed December elections, has also offered to help the warring factions reach a settlement, Kenya's Daily Nation reported on Monday.

"I have offered and we continue to offer to our brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe if they want to learn a few lessons from the experience of Kenya," Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula told the paper.

South African cleric and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu said on Sunday that "a very good argument can be made for having an international force to restore peace" in Zimbabwe under UN auspices.

A group of African lawmakers who observed Friday's election run-off said the results should be scrapped and a new vote held.

US President George W. Bush on Saturday ordered additional sanctions to beef up existing measures that include a travel ban on Mugabe's inner circle and a freeze on their bank accounts.

Human Rights Watch called on Sunday for African leaders to impose sanctions against Mugabe and refuse to recognise his legitimacy, calling the election a "sham."

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