African leaders on Monday pushed President Robert Mugabe to open talks with the opposition after he was re-elected unopposed in an election condemned as violent and unfair by the continent's own monitors.
Mugabe, 84, flew to an African Union summit in Egypt soon after being sworn in for a new term, extending his unbroken rule since independence from Britain in 1980.
As Mugabe arrived, the African Union's own monitors said Friday's election did not meet their standards. They were the third African observer group to condemn the poll.
The summit was opposed to Western demands for hefty sanctions to punish Mugabe but was moving towards a clear consensus on negotiations to end a deep and violent crisis in the ruined country.
Regional power South Africa, a key player in the Zimbabwe situation, called for Mugabe's ZANU-PF and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC to enter talks on a transitional government. Tsvangirai withdrew from the ballot because of attacks on his supporters.
Pretoria is the designated southern African mediator in Zimbabwe although President Thabo Mbeki has been widely accused of being ineffective and too soft on Mugabe.
The statement was the first time South Africa has publicly called for a unity government and appeared to indicate the line that the African Union will take. Any stronger measures are likely to be blocked by divisions at the summit.
Zimbabwe's crisis has ruined a once prosperous country, saddling it with the world's worst hyper-inflation and straining neighbouring nations, especially South Africa, with a flood of millions of economic refugees.
REGION DIVIDED
Conference sources said countries from east and west Africa wanted to take a strong stand on Zimbabwe but Mugabe's neighbours in southern Africa were divided.
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, Mugabe's biggest critic in the southern region, was rushed to hospital in Egypt just before the summit after suffering a stroke.
Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, an outspoken critic of Mugabe, called in Nairobi for his suspension from the AU until a fair election was held. But President Mwai Kibaki told Reuters at the summit that negotiations for a unity government were the only solution.
Like other summit leaders he said he was optimistic a solution would be found.
Asked if Mugabe would accept a deal agreed by the summit, Congo Republic's President Denis Sassou-Nguesso told Reuters: "We will persuade him to accept the solution that we will propose. This is certain. We are invested in this."
Many African leaders have previously appeared over-awed by Mugabe, long seen as a liberation hero. But the conduct of the elections provoked unprecedented criticism from within Africa.
