Africa comes under pressure on Mugabe

CAIRO, Egypt (CNN) -- African Union leaders are huddled in Egypt to address demands they reject the results of Zimbabwe's widely discredited runoff in which President Robert Mugabe was handed a shallow victory.

Mugabe is attending the meeting, a two-day African Union summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. It was described by a U.N. official as "a moment of truth."

Mugabe -- Zimbabwe's only leader since its independence from Britain in 1980 -- took the oath of office Sunday, hours after election results showed he won Friday's runoff. However, he was the only candidate in the vote.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said he is closely monitoring developments from Harare, Zimbabwe's capital. He pulled out of the election, citing political violence and intimidation. International observers said the balloting was marred by voter intimidation.

Although some African heads of state invited Tsvangirai to leave Zimbabwe, he declined, because his passport is being held by the registrar general's office, where he applied to renew it earlier this month.

An appeal to the High Court to compel the registrar general to issue him a new passport was ruled not urgent, so he is appealing to the Supreme Court, he said.

Tsvangirai said he could easily get a non-Zimbabwean passport, "but that will mean I may not be able to come back into the country. I don't want a situation where I am then treated like a foreigner."

At the summit, Tsvangirai's party has a team of five people, led by the Movement for Democratic Change vice president Thokozani Khupe. "They are reporting very good progress. They have caucused with a lot of people," Tsvangirai said.

"This is the single greatest challenge to regional stability in southern Africa, not only because of its terrible humanitarian and security consequences but also because of the dangerous political precedent it sets," U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro said.

U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey Monday restated Washington's condemnation of the "sham" election process, and urged the AU to do the same. Casey said the United States wants Mugabe's government to enter into talks with the opposition, under the mediation of African leaders.

The U.S. and other nations are working on a draft resolution to put to the U.N. Security Council Wednesday, the U.S. State Department has said.

The U.S. and Britain have led international condemnation against Zimbabwe: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wants international action against Mugabe's government, including U.N.-authorized sanctions.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown voiced doubts that anyone would recognize Mugabe's re-election.

"I think the message that is coming from the whole of the world is that the so-called election will not be recognized as legitimate," Brown said Monday.

"I would hope that the African Union with the United Nations will make it absolutely clear to Mr. Mugabe that there's got to be change, a new government has got to be brought in and that when democracy is restored in Zimbabwe we will be prepared to help the Zimbabwean people, and the poverty, and the deprivation, and the famine that exists in some parts of the country."

As the 53-member AU convened, the Elders -- a council of former world leaders led by former South African President Nelson Mandela -- urged the AU to "clearly state" that Zimbabwe's presidential runoff vote was illegitimate.

"They occurred under the cloud of targeted political violence, precipitating the withdrawal of one of the two candidates," the Elders' statement said. "The African election observers left no doubt: the elections were neither free nor fair."

The AU's observer mission announced Monday that the June 27 runoff "fell short of the accepted standards" because of pre-election violence.

The mission said it is "encouraged that both parties have shown willingness to engage in constructive dialogue as a way forward for ensuring peace, stability and development in Zimbabwe."

Tsvangirai said Sunday that any negotiations with Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party should be based upon the March 29 presidential election, in which Tsvangirai won the most votes but fell short of the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff.

"The pressure is building up against him," the opposition leader said, referring to Mugabe.

"As far as we are concerned, we are nearer a solution than we have ever been because where does he go from here? He cannot solve the economic problem, he cannot solve the 8 million percent inflation by continuing to be in this intransigent mood. [Mugabe] has no option but to negotiate with the opposition,"

African leaders are divided on how to deal with Zimbabwe.

Some have been outspoken in their condemnation, with Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga saying he does not want Mugabe recognized as the legitimate head of state in Zimbabwe. Kenya reached a similar power-sharing agreement this year after a disputed presidential election that ended in bloodshed.

Others, like South African President Thabo Mbeki, have taken a softer approach.

Mbeki has said that a more conciliatory stance will allow for a settlement -- such as the formation of a coalition government. The Southern African Development Community, or SADC, appointed Mbeki to mediate the Zimbabwe political dispute between Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party.

The MDC, which has been critical of Mbeki's refusal to criticize Mugabe, wants the AU to appoint an additional envoy to help in the mediation effort. The opposition party is also asking that AU peacekeepers be deployed to Zimbabwe -- but that is unlikely to happen, as African peacekeepers are already stretched thin on the continent.

Agencies report that Mugabe was greeted warmly by some other African leaders at meetings closed to the media. "He was hugging everyone, pretty much everyone he could get close to," one delegate told The Associated Press. The agency also reported that Hosni Mubarak, president of Egypt, escorted Mugabe into the conference hall.

After his inauguration Sunday, Mugabe indicated that he would be open to talks with the opposition. Watch as Mugabe gets sworn in »

"It is my hope that sooner rather than later we shall as diverse political parties hold consultations towards such serious dialogue [that] will minimize our differences and enhance the areas of unity and cooperation between us," he said.

Mugabe said he intended to challenge African leaders at the African Union summit over their condemnation.

"I would like some leaders who are making these statements to point out at me and we would see if these fingers would be cleaner than mine," Mugabe said this week, according to Zimbabwe's state-run newspaper The Herald. "Some African countries have done worse things."

CNN's Nkepile Mabuse contributed to this report

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All About Zimbabwe • Robert Mugabe • Morgan Tsvangirai • Thabo Mbeki