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Toyako, Japan
07 July 2008
Leaders from the world's biggest industrial nations met with Africanheads of state to discuss the political crisis in Zimbabwe. VOA WhiteHouse Correspondent Scott Stearns reports, African leaders are dividedover calls for sanctions against Zimbabwe's long-time ruler RobertMugabe.
Zimbabwe's political crisis dominated more than threehours of talks among chiefs of the Group of Eight leading industrialnations and heads of state from Algeria, Ethiopia, Senegal, SouthAfrica, Tanzania, Nigeria, and Ghana.
The United States hasdrafted a United Nations resolution to impose targeted sanctionsincluding an arms embargo and a travel ban against President Mugabe andhis allies. Mr. Mugabe won re-election last month in a runoffboycotted by the chief opposition candidate because of attacks againstopposition supporters.
Speaking to reporters at the Group ofEight summit in Japan, U.S. President George Bush said G8 leaderslistened very carefully to their African colleagues about their concernfor what is going on in Zimbabwe.
"I care deeply about thepeople of Zimbabwe. I am extremely disappointed in the elections whichI labeled a sham election," President Bush said.
President Bushspoke alongside Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, who is the chairmanof the African Union. That group's meeting in Egypt last week calledfor talks to establish a national unity government but did not endorsesanctions. President Kikwete told President Bush that, as friends, theywould ultimately come to an understanding about the best way forward.
"Theconcerns that you have expressed are indeed the concerns of many of uson the African continent," he noted. "At the last summit of the AfricanUnion, many leaders expressed their dissatisfaction at the way thingshappened. But also we agreed on the way forward. The only area that wemay differ is on the way forward. You see differently, but for us inAfrica we see differently."
The U.S. Assistant to the Presidentfor International Economic Affairs, Dan Price, told reporters that notall African leaders are in a position to support sanctions at thistime. But he stressed there was broad agreement between G8 and Africanleaders about the need for the international community to unite behinda common approach to the political crisis in Zimbabwe.
WhiteHouse Spokeswoman Dana Perino said some African leaders are workingtoward a power-sharing deal in Zimbabwe, and the United States iswaiting to see what such an agreement would look like. For example, shesaid, would such a government include President Mugabe?
Perinosaid the current government does not reflect the will of Zimbabweanswho voted for change in the first round of balloting in March. Theopposition party won a majority of parliamentary seats in that poll.Opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai out-polled President Mugabe inthat vote, but did not top fifty percent, leading to last month'srunoff.
President Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since 1980, hassaid he is prepared to talk with political opponents but only if theyfirst recognize him as the legitimately-elected president.
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