Mbeki says not blind to reality of Zimbabwe

By Louis Charbonneau and Patrick Worsnip

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - South African President Thabo Mbeki on Wednesday dismissed suggestions that he is blind to the gravity of the situation in Zimbabwe and insisted that talking with all parties was the only solution.

"We need to talk at all times with both the ruling party and the opposition," Mbeki told a news conference after chairing a summit of the U.N. Security Council and African Union. "You've got to sit and discuss with them."

No results have been announced from the March 29 presidential election in Zimbabwe, a former British colony. The opposition accuses President Robert Mugabe of trying to steal the election and say he is preparing a violent crackdown.

Like all but two of some two dozen African speakers, Mbeki did not mention Zimbabwe during the summit itself, which he chaired.

But after the meeting, reporters bombarded him with questions about Zimbabwe, pressing a defensive Mbeki to explain repeatedly why he was pursuing "quiet diplomacy."

"I don't know whatever is meant by quiet diplomacy," he said. "What is loud diplomacy?"

One reporter replied that "loud diplomacy" was the speech by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who told the summit: "No one thinks ... that President Mugabe has won."

Mbeki said: "Well it's not diplomacy in that case, it can't be."

Asked whether he was taking a soft approach to Zimbabwe because he was blinded by the 84-year-old Mugabe's reputation as a hero in the fight against white minority rule in southern Africa, Mbeki dismissed the suggestion.

"I am saying the very fact that we have a mediation process like this on the political side is because we say there are things that have gone wrong," Mbeki said. "There are many wrong things with the politics of Zimbabwe."

He declined to comment on U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's proposal that international monitors be sent to Zimbabwe if a new round of presidential elections were held.

"That's a matter that would have to be put to the government of Zimbabwe," Mbeki said, adding that any new round would have to free of violence.

Mbeki, who has been heavily criticized at home for his stance on Zimbabwe, said he and the Southern Africa Development Community would insist that Zimbabwe's opposition have the opportunity to participate in verifying the election results.

He also denied press reports that he had refused to call Zimbabwe's problem a "crisis."

"I never said any such thing," he said, though he declined to say whether or not he thought the word "crisis" applied.

(Writing by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Chris Wilson)