Zimbabwe's Opposition Denies Mugabe Deal

Zimbabwe's opposition party today denied reports of a deal with the Mugabe government, saying negotiations at the African Union summit in Egypt were still far from agreement.

The Business Day newspaper reported that South Africa's president, Thabo Mbeki, said Robert Mugabe and his opponent Morgan Tsvangirai were close to brokering an agreement, which would lead to a unity government.

"The plan involves getting Mugabe and Tsvangirai to work together to implement agreements between Zanu-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) made in January. These include a new constitution and other reforms," the report said.

But an MDC spokesman, George Sibotshiwe, told the Guardian this morning: "There is no truth in that. There is no deal. Unless the African Union can identify Mugabe as illegitimate there is no deal."

In Harare, Tsvangirai left the Dutch embassy where he had been seeking refuge during the election violence. A spokesman for Holland's foreign ministry said the MDC leader had decided the situation in Zimbabwe is now calm enough for him to return to his home.

There is no indication that the AU will deny Mugabe's legitimacy, as it holds a formal session on Zimbabwe today. The leaders here are split on how to treat the Zimbabwean leader, but there is a general consensus that there should be some form of national unity government, perhaps negotiated with the help of African Union mediators.

Meanwhile, the US led a push in the UN security council for a new sanctions package targeting Zimbabwe's leadership, circulating a draft resolution in New York, which argues the crisis had a regional impact through the outflow of refugees.

"It not only affects the region, but the credibility of the council," US ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad said. "If there is no response, what does that say about the council?"

Zimbabwe's UN ambassador Boniface Chidyausiku dismissed the package. "I don't think that other members of the security council are convinced that our situation is a threat to international peace and security. We see the whole approach to sanctions as a weapon to try and effect a regime change in Zimbabwe," he said.

China, Russia, South Africa and some other council members have all expressed reluctance to use sanctions.

"This is an African problem," China's deputy UN ambassador, Liu Zhenmin, told reporters.

There were raucous scenes at the summit overnight when British television crews managed to get close to Mugabe, and the leader's bodyguards shoved them away.

When the journalists questioned Mugabe about his legitimacy as president, he shouted that they were "bloody idiots".

This morning, journalists at the conference center are being kept even further from the African leaders than previously allowed.