Prometheus 6

Before the African Union made its call, both Mr. Mugabe and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change had ruled out a negotiated settlement based on power-sharing of the kind that emerged from Kenya’s post-election violence earlier this year.

“Kenya is Kenya; Zimbabwe is Zimbabwe,” George Charamba, Mr. Mugabe’s spokesman said. “We have our own history of evolving dialogue and resolving political impasses the Zimbabwean way. The Zimbabwean way, not the Kenyan way. Not at all.”

African Union Calls for Settlement in Zimbabwe
By KENNEDY ABWAO and ALAN COWELL

SHARM EL SHEIK, Egypt — The African Union Tuesday urged the creation of a government of national unity in Zimbabwe to heal the nation’s deep political wounds following President Robert Mugabe’s triumph in a one-candidate election widely condemned as a sham.

The 53-nation body, Africa’s most authoritative group, made the call after a two-day gathering of African leaders marked by divisions over the handling of the crisis in Zimbabwe. While President Omar Bongo of Gabon endorsed Mr. Mugabe’s presidency, Botswana urged the suspension of Zimbabwe from African forums because its participation would ‘’give unqualified legitimacy to a process which cannot be considered legitimate.”