Mediator Mbeki meets Mugabe on Zimbabwe crisis

By MacDonald Dzirutwe

HARARE (Reuters) - South African leader Thabo Mbeki and President Robert Mugabe held talks on Friday on Zimbabwe's election crisis ahead of a possible run-off that has raised fears violence could escalate.

Mbeki, whose softly-softly mediation in Zimbabwe's crisis has drawn criticism at home and abroad, met Mugabe for three hours. Their talks came a day before the opposition MDC was to announce whether it would take part in a second round.

Western powers have called on African states to do more to end the stalemate, which has dashed hopes that the election would usher in a new era of prosperity and more freedoms.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned the presidents of three southern African states -- Botswana, Zambia and Tanzania -- on Friday to urge them to help end the Zimbabwe deadlock.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack did not say why Rice did not telephone Mbeki.

Regional heavyweight South Africa is heading efforts by the regional grouping SADC to defuse the tension in Zimbabwe, which suffers from 80 percent unemployment, chronic food and fuel shortages and the world's highest inflation of 165,000 percent.

But Mbeki has lost credibility as lead mediator.

"He (Mbeki) came to get a briefing as mediator. He has come to get an on the spot understanding of developments on the ground," Zimbabwean Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu told reporters.

"It is very important for him as a mediator to get to know what is happening personally rather than from outside sources, particularly from the Western press," said the minister. He gave no details of the discussion and Mbeki also made no statement.

The last time Mbeki met Mugabe after the election, he denied there was a crisis, a comment widely attacked by political rivals and the international community. Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai has said Mbeki is no longer fit to mediate.

Mbeki was briefed by a South African team he sent to Zimbabwe to investigate post-election violence during the visit.

He did not meet the MDC, party officials said.

Tsvangirai, who left Zimbabwe shortly after the March 29 elections, says he won the presidential poll outright. He has yet to give a final answer on whether he will contest a run-off.

If he does not, the 84-year-old Mugabe, who has ruled since independence in 1980, will automatically win.

The MDC is expected to announce their run-off decision at a news conference in Pretoria on Saturday at 0800 GMT.