Zimbabwe's crisis should be placed at the top of the agenda at the African Union's (AU) Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Thursday. "The DA appeals to African leaders to place Zimbabwe at the top of the agenda of their deliberations and propose concrete solutions to restore democracy and stop the suffering in our northern neighbour," said Tony Leon, DA spokesman on Foreign Affairs.

"It is extraordinary that the AU intends to discuss the situation in the Middle East, over which it exerts no influence, but has allocated no time to dealing with the crisis of confidence around Zimbabwe."

Leon said after nine months, President Mbeki's mediation efforts have thus far raised hopes and dashed expectations.
"A few days after meeting with both leaders of ZANU-PF and the MDC, and assuring the world that 'good progress' had been made in resolving Zimbabwe's political crisis, state police violently assaulted MDC supporters -- yet another slap in the face of President Mbeki," Leon said.

He said that Robert Mugabe's unilateral announcement that elections would be held in March was a clear indication that "clinging to power and not restoring democracy was his agenda for Zimbabwe".

"The current political climate in the country is not conducive to free and fair elections. If the elections take place in March as Mugabe has declared, they will be contested in a far worse environment than the previous two elections in 2002 and 2005 respectively, and may push
Zimbabwe towards another Kenya."

He said the "soft approach" African leaders had been taking towards Mugabe had not helped restore political stability to the country. "African leaders have a responsibility towards the continent and most importantly, the people of Zimbabwe, to ensure the restoration of democracy, peace and economic stability," Leon said.