AU Summit fails to endorse MDC-T demands

A DRAFT resolution set to be ratified by African Union leaders at the ongoing summit in Egypt has failed to endorse the three key demands tabled by the Movement for Democratic Change party, according to reports Monday.

The opposition party had asked the AU to reject President Mugabe's authority by condemning the June 27 election results, appoint a new mediator to help find a solution to the impasse and empower an African police force to patrol the country.

Tsvangirai also wanted the African Union to send in ‘peacekeepers’ to Zimbabwe.

That is now unlikely. Also given the difficulties the body already is having with its stalled mission in Sudan's Darfur region, undertaken jointly with the United Nations, this will be very unlikely.

AU peacekeepers also are struggling in Somalia.

While the MDC-T has called for a change from South African President Thabo Mbeki's "quiet diplomacy," it is unlikely that the African Union will disrespect President Mbeki by stripping him or the southern bloc of the mediation role.

Looking West is also likely to attract reprisals from the region and Tsvangirai could be accused, as he has been, of lacking enough nationalist sentiment to take the country further.

The summit indicated that it was opposed to a U.S.-led push at the United Nations for strong sanctions against President Mugabe's government, including an arms embargo.

International media last night was awash with statements by the Pan African Parliament who criticised the Zimbabwean election and statements by the Kenyan Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, who was not attending the summit in Egypt, calling for Zimbabwe’s suspension from the AU.

The United States and Britain have imposed financial and travel sanctions against President Mugabe and his top officials and was reported as saying it had prepared a draft text on U.N. sanctions against Zimbabwe that would ban arms sales and freeze assets of specific individuals and firms.

Critics say more sanctions are likely to affect the ordinary Zimbabwean, including supporters of the MDC-T.

Reports suggested that the US government threatened to ‘go it alone’ as it had expected a stronger stance on Zimbabwe from the African Union.

The seven-page text, titled "Draft Elements for a Chapter VII Sanctions Resolution" will be circulated to the Security Council next week according to reports Monday.

It is likely to be blocked by China, Russia and South Africa who are advocating a negotiated settlement of Zimbabwe’s current situation.

It now looks like the MDC-T party will have to go back to the drawing board and consider forming a government of national unity with President Mugabe.

A report in the U.K.’s Independent newspaper suggested that there was growing dissatisfaction in the ranks of the MDC-T over an apparent lack of a strategy by the party leader, Morgan Tsvangirai.