Mugabe to talk to opposition after runoff results announced

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(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-06-29 09:40

HARARE - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe accepted on Saturday talking to MDC on the way forward for Zimbabwe after the results of the run-off poll are announced, according to New Ziana.

Robert Mugabe (Front), Zimbabwean president and candidate of the ruling ZANU-PF, arrives at a polling station in the suburb of Harare, June 27, 2008. Zimbabwe held the presidential run-off on Friday as scheduled despite opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai's withdrawal from the race. [Xinhua]

Mugabe said this should take place after the results of the run-off poll are announced, which the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said would be done soon.

The official sources, who attended the meeting between Mugabe and the African Union (AU) observer mission chief Ahmed Tejan Kabbah in Harare on Saturday, outlined the position of Mugabe at State House.

The sources said the mission followed the proposal that the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference made. The AU said the bishops proposed a "meeting of minds" to chart the way forward for Zimbabwe in their pastoral letter.

Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement For Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai addresses the media in Harare June 22, 2008. [Xinhua]

The sources quoted Mugabe as saying: "It is fine that there must be those contacts. But it must be a meeting of our minds and not a meeting of other people's minds through us."

On proposals from interested parties for a government of national unity, Mugabe said during his campaign that this could be done after the run-off.

Kabbah and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) observer mission leader Jose Marcos Barrica told journalists after separate meetings with Mugabe that they would soon announce their final verdicts on the run-off and three by-elections also held on Friday.

The two observer mission leaders said they were assessing whether the run-off followed electoral procedures. They stressed the need for peace to prevail to enable development in Zimbabwe.

Kabbah also said it was necessary for Africa to learn electoral systems in different countries. "We are trying to see how best we can, as Africans, understand each others' procedures. The parliaments of respective countries make election procedures we cannot insist on changing," he said.

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