Tsvangirai says conditions not right for talks

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Wednesday that conditions were not yet right for talks with President Robert Mugabe on forming a unity government to end the violent crisis in the ruined state.

Mugabe's officials said they were ready to negotiate after a call by African Union leaders on Tuesday for talks on ending the crisis over the veteran president's re-election in a June 27 one-candidate poll that drew global condemnation.

But Tsvangirai, who boycotted the vote because of attacks on his supporters, told a news conference that conditions were not suitable for talks.

Tsvangirai said the results of a first round of voting on March 29, in which he defeated Mugabe, should be the basis for talks.

Tsvangirai said talks would be meaningless unless the African Union sent a permanent envoy to expand mediation efforts by South African President Thabo Mbeki, criticized for being too soft in his diplomacy with Mugabe.

Zimbabwean Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu welcomed the AU summit resolution calling on the two sides to discuss a unity government.

"The AU resolution is in conformity to what President Mugabe said at his inauguration, when he said we are prepared to talk in order to resolve our problems," Ndlovu told Reuters.

"We are committed to talk, not just with Tsvangirai but to other parties as well."

But despite the AU support for a power-sharing deal modeled on the one that ended post-election violence in Kenya earlier this year, disagreement over who should lead the government could prove an insurmountable obstacle.

Mugabe, 84, was sworn in for a new five-year term on Sunday after election authorities announced he had won about 85 percent of the vote in a run-off, which was condemned by monitors and much of world opinion as violent and unfair.

Mugabe has branded the MDC a puppet of Britain and the United States and vowed to never let it rule Zimbabwe.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, whose country has take over the European Union presidency, said on Tuesday the EU would only accept a government led by Tsvangirai. The European Commission repeated that line on Wednesday.

"Any transitional government must include Morgan Tsvangirai as prime minister or head of government," Commission development spokesman John Clancy told a briefing in Brussels.

(Additional reporting by Nelson Banya in Harare, Mark John in Brussels; Writing by Paul Simao and Barry Moody; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)