Zimbabwe: UN Keeps Annan, Mugabe Meeting Under Tight Lid

[Mekeda7]

Zimbabwe: UN Keeps Annan, Mugabe Meeting Under Tight
Lid

Financial Gazette (Harare)

June 23, 2006
Posted to the web June 29, 2006

Hama Saburi
Harare

THE United Nations (UN) is keeping a tight lid on
secretary-general Kofi Annan's scheduled meeting with
President Robert Mugabe at the African Union (AU)
summit over the crisis in Zimbabwe, which has
attracted increased global attention.

This week, Annan's spokesman Stephane Dujarric further
skirted around the specifics of the UN secretary
general's visit to Banjul for the continental body's
fifth summit.

"In Banjul, he will attend the AU summit. On the
margins, he will hold a series of bilateral meetings,"
said Dujarric in a terse reference to Annan's visit.
"He is also expected to host a mini-summit on Cote
d'Ivoire, which will bring together President Laurent
Gbagbo and other African leaders," he said in
highlights of Tuesday's UN briefings.

Diplomatic sources said South African President Thabo
Mbeki, who tried in vain to broker an amicable
settlement to the political crisis in Zimbabwe will,
together with the UN secretary-general meet President
Mugabe on the sidelines of the AU summit possibly to
pave the way for the UN chief's visit to Zimbabwe. The
AU summit opens on July 1 and ends on July 2.

Mbeki is on record as saying that the proposed visit
to Zimbabwe by Annan could mark a carthatic turning
point for the increasingly isolated nation.

Political commentators believe that Annan's visit,
which, to all intents and purposes now hangs in the
balance, could give President Mugabe a chance to
defend the most cherished aspect of his rule, his
name, in the twilight of a political career marred by
allegations of human rights abuses. It was widely
expected that Annan would cut a deal with President
Mugabe to tackle Zimbabwe's deepening crisis.

But President Mugabe is understood to be against
Annan's planned visit to Harare, which could see
Zimbabwe being dragged before the powerful UN Security
Council, particularly following a damning report by
the world body on its widely condemned Operation
Murambatsvina that left 700 000 people homeless.

Harare is fast running out of options to ward off the
inexorably rising pressure for political reforms and
is trying every trick in the book to avoid censure by
the UN.

Zimbabwe, which last year said it had invited Annan to
come and assess first hand the impact of its clean-up
exercise, has indicated that Annan, who it now views
as a pawn of the US and British governments, was no
longer welcome.

This is despite the fact that Mbeki had earlier said
that Annan's visit would help normalise relations
between Zimbabwe and the rest of the world.

An alleged democratic deficit has left Zimbabwe in a
spot of bother with the international community.
Harare denies the charges, laying the blame squarely
on the shoulders of the country's critics, whom it
accuses of demonising Zimbabwe as retribution for
embarking on controversial land reforms.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200606290813.html