200807021846 | 'Suspend Zimbabwe from AU summit' - Botswana

'Suspend Zimbabwe from AU summit' - Botswana

Sharm El-Sheikh - Botswana called on Tuesday for Zimbabwe to be suspended from the African Union and Southern African Development Community meetings over President Robert Mugabe's widely discredited re-election. "Botswana's position is that the outcome of these elections does not confer legitimacy on the government of President Mugabe," Botswana's Vice President Mompati S Merafhe told an AU summit in Egypt, according to a statement.

"In our considered view it therefore follows that the representatives of the current 'government' in Zimbabwe should be excluded from attending SADC and AU meetings.

"Their participation in the meetings of the two organisations would give unqualified legitimacy to a process which cannot be considered legitimate."

The summit was debating a draft resolution calling for a national unity government in Zimbabwe following presidential election violence which saw the MDC pull out before a run-off after it won the first round.

"It is also Botswana's strong view that the mediation process must treat both parties as equals", he said