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Annan, Mugabe to meet in bid to ease Zimbabwe crisis
Dumisani Muleya, Business Day (SA)
June 22, 2006

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/topstories.aspx?ID=BD4A220052

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe is expected to meet United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the sidelines of the African Union (AU) summit in Gambia next week to discuss Zimbabwe’s deterioration.

President Thabo Mbeki might also meet Mugabe and Annan in Banjul during the AU summit, which runs from June 25-July 2. The meeting would probably be on July 1.

"I think Zimbabwe is a country that has given a lot to that region," Annan said in New York.

"Zimbabwe, in economic and agricultural terms, was one of the breadbaskets of the region and has the capacity of doing that.

"We need to think of the Zimbabwean people."

Although Annan did not mention that he also expected to hold meetings with Mbeki, diplomatic sources said the two leaders could meet in Banjul.

Mbeki and Annan last met in Cape Town in March during the UN chief’s tour of Africa. They discussed Zimbabwe.

The Banjul meetings, which come ahead of Annan’s expected visit to Harare, could escalate pressure on Mugabe to resolve his country’s problems or quit.

Mugabe is under heavy pressure at home and abroad to go after 26 years in power.

Annan’s expected visit to Zimbabwe is mired in controversy. Mugabe is apparently trying to block him from coming to Harare so as to prevent the Zimbabwean crisis being included on the agenda of the UN Security Council.

Annan said it was imperative to prevent a collapse occurring in Zimbabwe. "We need to do what we can to help Zimbabwe and the people, and not sit by for the country to totally collapse.

"I believe we, the international community, should find a way of assisting Zimbabwe to come back to the fold and to turn around its economy and its social systems."

The UN recently downgraded Zimbabwe’s status to "least developed country" as a result of its multifaceted problems, which have damaged the economy.

Annan will be attending the AU summit for the last time before his term of office expires at the end of the year.

Sources say he is determined to sort out the Zimbabwean crisis.

Sources said Mbeki also wanted the situation resolved before his departure from office in 2009.

Two weeks ago Mbeki dispatched Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils and top intelligence officials to Harare, apparently to arrange a meeting with Mugabe.

While Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad said last week that he was not aware Kasrils wanted to lay the ground for a Mugabe-Mbeki summit, the sources said that there were in fact plans for such a meeting.

Mbeki recently sent Kasrils to London before his trip there to meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The two discussed Zimbabwe for the second time this year.

Sources said some African leaders would be pushing for an AU resolution on Zimbabwe at the Banjul meeting.

The previous AU summits in SA, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Libya and Sudan failed to tackle the Zimbabwe problem.

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