Mbeki Visits Mugabe - and His Sworn Rival

The South African president, Thabo Mbeki, returned home empty handed from a trip to Zimbabwe last night after Robert Mugabe refused his call to revive negotiations with his opposition.

Mr Mbeki spent three hours trying to persuade Mr Mugabe to reopen talks with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, but to no avail. "There is no basis for unity," said a spokesman for Mugabe's Zanu-PF party last night.

Mr Mbeki, the first high-profile head of state to visit Zimbabwe since it quit the Commonwealth this month, also met the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai for 45 minutes. He said "it was imperative that both parties meet as soon as possible for a resolution of the Zimbabwe crisis".

Mr Tsvangirai said he was prepared to negotiate as long as Mr Mugabe did not set any pre-conditions for talks. The Zimbabwean leader, however, has said he is not prepared to talk unless the opposition drop a court challenge to his re-election.

Mr Mbeki, whose "quiet diplomacy" on Zimbabwe has so far proven fruitless, is trying to get Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai to agree to form a coalition government.

The South African leader, whose support for Mr Mugabe has left him marginalised internationally and locally, has blamed Britain and western powers for causing Zimbabwe's crisis. He has dismissed criticism of Mr Mugabe for human rights abuses as nothing more than a ploy to bring about "regime change".

His stance has been criticised by many South African leaders, including the veteran anti-apartheid campaigner Desmond Tutu.

"What has been reported as happening in Zimbabwe is totally unacceptable and reprehensible and we ought to say so," he said.

"The credibility of our democracy demands this."