Mbeki in Harare for crisis talks

by Amy Judd | July 5, 2008 at 07:31 am

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South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki is in Harare today where he is reported to have met Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and members of an opposition faction.

The outcome of those talks, at this moment, is not known.

Mr Mbeki has been the chief regional negotiator on the Zimbabwe crisis, and has been trying to persuade Mr Mugabe to form a government of national unity.

Mr Mugabe met leaders of a dissident faction that split from the main opposition MDC, an AFP reporter said.

Earlier, video emerged of vote rigging in last month's election.

In footage secretly filmed by a prison guard, he and fellow prison officers were shown being forced to vote for President Robert Mugabe in front of superior officers at the jail.

The guard, Shepherd Yuda, filmed the vote-rigging in a production for Guardian Films. He has now fled Zimbabwe.

Political crisis

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party pulled out of the presidential run-off vote, citing campaign violence.

The party says 5,000 of its members are still missing.

Mr Mugabe has said the opposition must accept him as leader before any talks can take place on ending the country's political crisis.