Mugabe Says Door Not Shut on Talks But Only After Run-off

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe said on Thursday his party has not shut the door to a negotiated settlement but insisted such a move would only be made after Friday’s presidential election run-off.

Addressing his final campaign rally just outside the capital, Harare, Mugabe said he would be ready to “sit down and talk” with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) after the run-off against bitter rival Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC.

“Should we emerge victorious, we will be magnanimous about it and say ‘let’s sit down and talk’ with the opposition,” Mugabe said as international pressure mounted for him to postpone the presidential election which the MDC is boycotting.

World leaders, including respected former South African president Nelson Mandela, have criticized the Zimbabwean authorities for their handling of the run-up to the polls after Tsvangirai withdrew from the presidential race alleging state-sponsored violence targeting his supporters.

Zimbabwe responded harshly to Mandela’s criticism, with information minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu labeling the former South African leader a stooge who was trying to please his Western handlers.

“We would also like Mandela to condemn the sanctions against us,” Ndlovu said.

Pressure to postpone the polls has also come from Mugabe’s Southern African Development Community neighbors who concluded at an emergency summit in Swaziland on Wednesday that conditions in Zimbabwe were not conducive to the holding of free and fair elections.

Source African Press Agency

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