The leaders of South Africa, Nigeria and Malawi are expected in
Zimbabwe Monday in a bid to facilitate discussions between
President Robert Mugabe and the main opposition leader, Morgan
Tsvangirai.
The bid to push Mugabe and Tsvangirai, who heads the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), to the negotiating table comes amid mounting political tensions in the southern African country.
President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa has confirmed he is going to visit Zimbabwe along with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, and Bakili Muluzi of Malawi.
Zimbabwe is deeply divided politically between supporters of Mugabe, who has been in power for 23 years and was re-elected in March 2002, and supporters of Tsvangirai, a former trade union leader.
Talks between the MDC and the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union -Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) have been mooted for some time now, but there are sticking points.
Mugabe has said he will only talk to the opposition leader if the latter recognises him as a duly-elected head of state.
Tsvangirai, who rejects Mugabe's legitimacy as president, has ruled out preconditions for talks.
The opposition is due to mount a court petition to Mugabe's election victory in last year's polls.
Zimbabwe's Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge has confirmed the visit by the three African leaders but would "not shed more detail about the visit", state ZBC radio said this weekend.
The South African government said in a statement that the meeting was part of efforts to "assist the people of Zimbabwe in their endeavour to find national reconciliation".
The scheduled visit by Mbeki, Obasanjo and Muluzi, who are all strong supporters of Mugabe's government, has sparked frenzied media speculation that the three are coming to urge Mugabe's early retirement.
Analysts and commentators point to an interview Mugabe gave on state television last month, in which he hinted he was "getting to a stage" when retirement might be thinkable.
Tsvangirai this week added to the speculation, saying his party was willing to discuss a way for Mugabe's "smooth exit" from power and the onset of a "post-Mugabe era".
But the government insists that Mugabe has no intention of leaving office before his current term expires in 2008.
Information Minister Jonathan Moyo said talk of "transitional governments" and "exit plans" for Mugabe was wishful thinking.
Mbeki's presidential spokesman Bheki Khumalo said South Africa also strongly rejected the idea that Mugabe could go to another country to effect a handover of power in Zimbabwe, adding that it was up to Mugabe himself to deal with such issues.
While at least three top ZANU-PF figures have been named in the press here as possible successors to the president -- Moyo, parliamentary speaker Emmerson Mnangagwa, former finance minister Simba Makoni --analysts say none has popular support.
The opposition is however adamant that the 79-year-old president should go.
Tsvangirai and the MDC say that Mugabe's government is responsible for acts of retribution and violence against opposition supporters ever since the party posed the first serious challenge to Mugabe's rule in 2000 parliamentary elections.
The opposition party also accuses Mbeki and Obasanjo of not being "honest brokers" between their party and Mugabe. In a statement this week, Tsvangirai accused the two leaders of trying to "ensure that Mugabe's illegitimacy remains unchallenged." State media on Sunday expressed wariness over the visit. The Sunday Mail quoted unnamed analysts as saying there was "nothing wrong with African brothers assisting each other", but African leaders must not push a "British agenda".
The government believes former colonial power Britain wants to topple Mugabe.
The South African and Nigerian leaders have been pushing for Zimbabwe's readmittance to the 54-member Commonwealth grouping. The country was suspended after a Commonwealth observer group said the 2001 presidential poll was marred by violence and intimidation.
The Zimbabwe government rejected that report.
Tensions are running high in Zimbabwe as the opposition and workers' unions have both vowed to confront Mugabe's government over issues from violence and the rule of law to fuel prices and low wages - Sapa-AFP
The bid to push Mugabe and Tsvangirai, who heads the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), to the negotiating table comes amid mounting political tensions in the southern African country.
President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa has confirmed he is going to visit Zimbabwe along with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, and Bakili Muluzi of Malawi.
Zimbabwe is deeply divided politically between supporters of Mugabe, who has been in power for 23 years and was re-elected in March 2002, and supporters of Tsvangirai, a former trade union leader.
Talks between the MDC and the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union -Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) have been mooted for some time now, but there are sticking points.
Mugabe has said he will only talk to the opposition leader if the latter recognises him as a duly-elected head of state.
Tsvangirai, who rejects Mugabe's legitimacy as president, has ruled out preconditions for talks.
The opposition is due to mount a court petition to Mugabe's election victory in last year's polls.
Zimbabwe's Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge has confirmed the visit by the three African leaders but would "not shed more detail about the visit", state ZBC radio said this weekend.
The South African government said in a statement that the meeting was part of efforts to "assist the people of Zimbabwe in their endeavour to find national reconciliation".
The scheduled visit by Mbeki, Obasanjo and Muluzi, who are all strong supporters of Mugabe's government, has sparked frenzied media speculation that the three are coming to urge Mugabe's early retirement.
Analysts and commentators point to an interview Mugabe gave on state television last month, in which he hinted he was "getting to a stage" when retirement might be thinkable.
Tsvangirai this week added to the speculation, saying his party was willing to discuss a way for Mugabe's "smooth exit" from power and the onset of a "post-Mugabe era".
But the government insists that Mugabe has no intention of leaving office before his current term expires in 2008.
Information Minister Jonathan Moyo said talk of "transitional governments" and "exit plans" for Mugabe was wishful thinking.
Mbeki's presidential spokesman Bheki Khumalo said South Africa also strongly rejected the idea that Mugabe could go to another country to effect a handover of power in Zimbabwe, adding that it was up to Mugabe himself to deal with such issues.
While at least three top ZANU-PF figures have been named in the press here as possible successors to the president -- Moyo, parliamentary speaker Emmerson Mnangagwa, former finance minister Simba Makoni --analysts say none has popular support.
The opposition is however adamant that the 79-year-old president should go.
Tsvangirai and the MDC say that Mugabe's government is responsible for acts of retribution and violence against opposition supporters ever since the party posed the first serious challenge to Mugabe's rule in 2000 parliamentary elections.
The opposition party also accuses Mbeki and Obasanjo of not being "honest brokers" between their party and Mugabe. In a statement this week, Tsvangirai accused the two leaders of trying to "ensure that Mugabe's illegitimacy remains unchallenged." State media on Sunday expressed wariness over the visit. The Sunday Mail quoted unnamed analysts as saying there was "nothing wrong with African brothers assisting each other", but African leaders must not push a "British agenda".
The government believes former colonial power Britain wants to topple Mugabe.
The South African and Nigerian leaders have been pushing for Zimbabwe's readmittance to the 54-member Commonwealth grouping. The country was suspended after a Commonwealth observer group said the 2001 presidential poll was marred by violence and intimidation.
The Zimbabwe government rejected that report.
Tensions are running high in Zimbabwe as the opposition and workers' unions have both vowed to confront Mugabe's government over issues from violence and the rule of law to fuel prices and low wages - Sapa-AFP
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