Zimbabwe crisis has weakened regional unity: Angola

By Muchena Zigomo

DURBAN (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's crisis has weakened the unity of the southern African body SADC, Angola's foreign minister said on Friday, suggesting the region is divided over how to deal with President Robert Mugabe's disputed re-election.

Talks between Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change have stalled, with MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai refusing to agree to full-blown negotiations that could pave the way for a national unity government.

Several African nations, including Zambia and Botswana, have broken ranks and condemned Mugabe's landslide victory in the June 27 run-off poll, which Tsvangirai boycotted because of attacks on his party's supporters.

"The SADC region is experiencing an unprecedented situation vis-a-vis the situation in Zimbabwe," Joao de Miranda said at the opening of a summit of the Southern African Development Community in Durban.

The Angolan foreign minister added that regional unity and cohesion had become more fragile because of the problems in Zimbabwe, where the collapse of the economy has sent millions of refugees into neighboring states.

South African President Thabo Mbeki has been mediating the preliminary talks between Mugabe's officials and the MDC, but has been accused of failing to make any progress and of favoring Mugabe with his discreet diplomatic approach.

Representatives of the African Union, the United Nations and the 14-nation SADC endorsed Mbeki's mediation on Friday after a briefing in Pretoria, Mbeki's office said. The South African leader was appointed by SADC last year to broker an agreement.

Tsvangirai, however, wants an AU envoy to join the mediation before his MDC agrees to more substantial talks.

The opposition has also demanded an end to government-backed violence it says has killed 120 of its supporters and the acceptance of Tsvangirai's victory in the first round of the presidential vote on March 29.

The MDC leader fell short of an absolute majority in the March poll and withdrew from the second ballot less than a week before voting. He has refused to recognize Mugabe's re-election as have the United States, Britain and other Western nations.

Mugabe, 84, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, has blamed the opposition for the bloodshed and insisted that it acknowledge his victory.

The AU has urged both sides to negotiate a power-sharing deal that would pave the way for a unity government, seen by many African leaders as the only way to avert further violence and total economic collapse.

Zimbabwe has the world's highest inflation rate, officially 2.2 million percent but said by analysts to be much higher, and unemployment of around 80 percent.

(Additional reporting by Phakamisa Ndzamela in Pretoria; Writing by Paul Simao; Editing by Tim Pearce)