US Envoy Presses for End to Tension in Zimbabwe

United Sates Assistant Secretary of State for African affairs Jendayi Frazer has arrived in the Zambian capital to confer with President Levy Mwanawasa on the situation in Zimbabwe. She said after holding talks with Mwanawasa on Saturday night that the situation in Zimbabwe remains worrying.

She is in the country to receive a briefing on the recent emergency summit of the regional grouping SADC, of which Mwanawasa is the current chair.

Ms Fraser said the only way to end tensions in Zimbabwe is for the formation of a government of national unity to be led by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

She said any other options would not be acceptable to most Zimbabweans as Tsvangirai is widely believed to have won last month’s presidential elections.

The results to the elections are still being withheld by the Zimbabwean Electoral Commission (ZEC) who insist they are still tallying and re-counting the cast ballots.

Ms. Frazer said African nations need to exert more pressure on Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe so that a peaceful solution is found to the elections impasse.

The US official has also met with Zambia’s founding president Kenneth Kaunda to get his insight in the best way forward in the Zimbabwean crisis.

Kaunda has been one of the strongest supporters of the land reform program in Zimbabwe.

He has however expressed worry at the continued political standoff in that country, but has refused to condemn Mugabe for it.

Source African Press Agency

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