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Robert Mugabe is presiding over a disaster in Zimbabwe but should still be entitled to attend a forthcoming Europe-Africa summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday.Summing up talks in Pretoria with President Thabo Mbeki, who is a mediator between Zimbabwe's opposition and President Mugabe's ruling party, Merkel said she had made clear her disquiet about the situation across South Africa's northern border. "The situation is a very difficult one. It's a disastrous one, which I very clearly stated in our conversation," the German leader told a press conference with Mbeki during her first sub-Saharan Africa tour.She declined to back calls for Mugabe to be barred from a summit between African Union and European Union leaders in Lisbon in December, which British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has threatened to boycott if the Zimbabwean head of state attends.
Merkel said she had consistently argued for all African countries to be invited to the summit and they should decide for themselves who should attend."I also said (to Mbeki) that obviously we will make all our assessments heard. We will also raise all our criticisms. We would do so in the presence of each and everyone and obviously each and everyone has the right to attend."During our presidency of the European Union (earlier this year) we worked very much to prepare the ground for the upcoming EU-AU summit ... and we want this summit to indeed open a new chapter in the relationship between our continents."The crisis in inflation-ravaged Zimbabwe dominated the talks on the first full day of a three-day visit to South Africa by Merkel, who flew in late Thursday from Ethiopia, where the AU is based.For his part, Mbeki expressed confidence that elections in Zimbabwe next year would be free and fair, saying he had detected a mood of cooperation among all sides in talks that he has hosted in his role as a mediator."There was a common determination to conclude them (the talks) as quickly as possible," said Mbeki."We are confident they will reach an agreement on all of these matters so, at least as far as the political challenges are concerned, there was a united voice," Mbeki told the news briefing."Both the ruling party and opposition are committed to making sure the elections are free and fair. Next year after the elections it will be very important they take the same approach with regard to economic challenges that they together evolve a common approach."Mbeki was tasked earlier this year by fellow regional leaders with mediating between Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change after some of its leaders were assaulted by the security forces.Merkel meanwhile also told Mbeki that Germany was ready to help South Africa prepare for the 2010 football World Cup after staging the tournament last year."This will open up an opportunity to project a new image for your country and indeed for the continent as a whole," she said.Merkel toured the site where the stadium for the 2010 final is being constructed in Soweto, where she wished South Africa "all the success for 2010" after being welcomed by local organising committee head Danny Jordaan."The World Cup consolidated the Germans as a nation," said Jordaan."There weren't anymore East Germans and West Germans, just Germans. Here, we have blacks and whites ... We want to be one nation after the World Cup.Mbeki earlier praised Germany's hosting of last year's event."We are very fortunate to be holding the FIFA World Cup after Germany. It enables us to draw on your success...We will remain in close contact about this," he said.
As in the days of Noah....
