U.N. discusses Zimbabwe

Top diplomats at a special Security Council session on Africa on Wednesday pressed Zimbabwe’s president to solve the country’s election crisis, with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown charging that “no one” thinks President Robert Mugabe has won.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Mugabe to release the final results of the March 29 election that may topple the 84-year-old ruler, warning that the situation in Zimbabwe could seriously deteriorate. He offered the United Nations’ help to resolve the impasse, including assistance in a second round of “fair and transparent” elections if needed.

Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai claims victory, based on results posted outside polling places. He has accused Mugabe of delaying to try to rig the results.

“No one thinks, having seen the results of polling stations, that President Mugabe has won this election,” Brown told fellow leaders and officials from the Security Council and African Union nations gathered for the session on African peace and security. “A stolen election would not be a democratic election at all.”

The meeting, chaired by President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, which holds the Security Council presidency for April, focused on how the council could help the African Union resolve regional conflicts. But the session itself was riven by subtle conflicts: Mbeki, an influential ally of Mugabe’s, said last week after a visit to Zimbabwe that “there is no crisis” there and warned other countries not to meddle.

South Africa has blocked the Security Council from addressing the issue. Mbeki canceled an early morning meeting with Brown, citing “schedule conflicts,” which British officials sought to assure reporters was not a snub. Before the morning council session, a small plane chartered by advocacy group Avaaz.org towed a banner above the U.N. headquarters that read, “Mbeki: Time to Act -- Democracy for Zimbabwe.”

The meeting aimed to smooth cooperation between the Security Council and the African Union. Both the U.N. and the AU would like the regional group to assume greater responsibility in dealing with local conflicts, which occupy much of the Security Council’s agenda.

The secretary-general Wednesday called for creating an African standby force to be supported by an international trust fund and mediation team. Both the United States, which pays 23% of the budget for peacekeeping operations, and Sudan urged the Security Council to focus on preventing conflict to reduce the need for costly peacekeeping intervention.

The African Union’s effort to stabilize the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region has become a symbol of the unfulfilled potential of regional groups to mediate conflicts. Poorly equipped and underfunded AU troops attempting to calm the war-torn region were absorbed into a joint AU-U.N. force in January in hopes of better protecting civilians.

The joint force aims to deploy 26,000 troops by the end of the year, but so far, only 9,000 are on the ground. The deployment has been delayed in part by Sudan’s insistence that all the forces be composed of African soldiers.

Another African country, Somalia, on the other hand, is pleading for U.N. troops. President Abdullahi Yusuf asked the Security Council to authorize peacekeepers to help stabilize the country, which faces a rebellion led by Islamic militants. He also chided the council for not fulfilling its “cheerful pledges” of money and help for Somalia’s new government. Council members have resisted authorizing peacekeepers because there is not yet peace in Somalia.

“Peacekeeping operations should be a means to an end, rather than a substitute for resolving conflicts or an excuse for delay,” U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said.

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maggie.farley@latimes.com