Basildon Peta
Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary-general, has sought President Thabo Mbeki's help to get Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe to agree to allow the UN to play a central role in a presidential run-off election on June 27. But diplomatic sources said Ban - who, in fact, wants the UN to run the entire election, in line with a request by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) - was unlikely to succeed. For the UN to be involved in the election at any level, Mugabe would have to make an official request, which he is not likely to do. His government has made it clear that it will allow observers only from countries that it regards as friendly. Mbeki is also said to be against UN involvement, preferring more engagement by the Southern Africa Development Community and the African Union. "It seems that both Mbeki and Mugabe now share a common hatred of the UN, which they see as being manipulated by the big powers," said a diplomat.
Ban met Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader, in Ghana last month. The UN boss has since repeatedly spoken to Mbeki by phone. Mbeki seems to have been miffed by the decision to raise the Zimbabwe issue during a meeting of the UN security council that he chaired in New York last month. Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown, supported by Ban, succeeded in getting Zimbabwe discussed. But efforts to get the anarchy and killing in the country put on the agenda and to allow the UN to send a special envoy to investigate the violence since the March 29 elections, were blocked - with South Africa's help. Mbeki has visited Mugabe several times since November, but his polite calls for a government of national unity and, lately, for a halt to the violence and the creation of an environment conducive to a run-off election, have been futile. "It seems Mugabe never listens to Mbeki, but Mbeki never stops trying," a well-placed diplomatic source said.
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