Botswana to boycott regional summit over Mugabe

By MacDonald Dzirutwe

HARARE (Reuters) - Botswana's president will boycott a weekend summit of southern African leaders because the country does not recognize Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's re-election, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

President Seretse Khama Ian Khama's decision not to attend the summit in South Africa underlines growing pressure from regional leaders on Mugabe and Zimbabwe's opposition to agree on sharing power to end post-election turmoil.

Power-sharing negotiations began last month after Mugabe's unopposed re-election in June, which was condemned around the world and boycotted by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai because of attacks on his supporters.

Three days of marathon meetings in Harare this week failed to reach an overall deal.

Botswana's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Zimbabwe's current government should not be represented at a political level of the 14-member Southern African Development Community.

"Botswana does not accept the result of the June 27 run-off election in Zimbabwe as it violated the core principles of SADC, the African Union and the United Nations," the statement said.

Botswana has taken the toughest stand among Zimbabwe's neighbors but all fear the consequences if its worsening economic decline leads to total meltdown. Millions of Zimbabweans have already fled across its borders.

SADC Executive Secretary Tomaz Salomao said he respected Botswana's decision but added the group could still make binding decisions with the 13 participating heads-of-state.

"According to our rules, for a meeting to proceed, we need two-thirds (of members)," he told reporters.

Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF and the opposition will resume power-sharing talks at the summit, ZANU-PF's chief negotiator, Patrick Chinamasa, was quoted as saying by the state-owned Herald newspaper.

MBEKI MEETINGS

South African President Thabo Mbeki, who is mediating the talks, was to meet the three main participants late on Friday.

"There is a meeting with President Mugabe, thereafter Arthur Mutambara, thereafter Morgan Tsvangirai," Mbeki's spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga said. "They are in progress. He is meeting with them one by one."

Mutambara leads a breakaway faction of the MDC.

Tsvangirai was to address a meeting of the SADC organ on politics, defence and security -- consisting of Angola, Tanzania and Swaziland -- on Friday.