Mbeki and Tsvangirai Set for Talks on Zimbabwe Crisis

The South African president, Thabo Mbeki, has agreed to meet Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, it was reported today.

Mbeki, an advocate of quiet diplomacy, has been under fire for his lack of action over the crisis in Zimbabwe. He said at a governance conference near London at the weekend that the situation in Zimbabwe was manageable and it was not time for action - to the anger of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in Zimbabwe.

The South African newspaper, Business Day, reported that Mbeki has agreed to meet the MDC leader, Tsvangirai, who claims to have won the presidential vote on March 29. Such a meeting would mark Mbeki's first overt involvement in resolving the standoff over the election, the paper said.

No official results for the presidential ballot have yet been published amid fears that the ruling Zanu-PF party is using the long delay to manipulate the results in its favor.

The MDC has accused President Robert Mugabe of trying to stir up violence as a pretext for declaring a state of emergency that could help him stay in power.

In the past few days, there have been increasing reports of so-called war veterans carrying out intimidation on the last remaining white-owned farms.

Tsvangirai was in South Africa in Monday for a meeting with Jacob Zuma, the head of the ruling African National Congress and the man set to succeed Mbeki. Zuma, who is seen as more sympathetic to the MDC than Mbeki, said the results should "be announced as a matter of urgency".

Zuma said Zimbabwe had become an international issue and it did not augur well to keep the country and the rest of the world in suspense over the election results.

As the MDC appeals for African states, including South Africa, to intervene in Zimbabwe to prevent bloodshed, Archbishop Desmond Tutu said Mugabe could still redeem himself by stepping down as president.

Tutu, a Nobel peace prize laureate, also criticized the rest of Africa for failing to act more decisively in Zimbabwe's crisis.

"I would have hoped there would be a great deal more pressure, not just from South Africa but from the international community," he said. "On the whole, African leadership has not done themselves proud on this one."

The Anglican archbishop said international peacekeeping troops may be needed to help restore order in Zimbabwe and the country's economy could benefit from a "mini-Marshall plan" orchestrated by foreign governments.

Zimbabwe is suffering from food and fuel shortages, inflation is running at more than 100,000% annually - the world's highest - and unemployment is above 80%. Millions have fled the country, mostly to South Africa.