"The European Union will accept no Zimbabwean government other than a government led by Morgan Tsvangirai," (pictured, left) a top French politician has boldly stated.
Foreign minister Bernard Kouchner, whose country officially took over the EU rotating presidency on Tuesday, told France 2 television that the French presidency along with the European Commission have clearly stated that the Zimbabwe government will be branded 'illegitimate' if it isn't led by opposition leader Tsvangirai.
A spokesman for Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF party denounced the demand from the EU. He said: "This exposes the imperialist tactics of our enemies in the West, whose economic sanctions against us are killing ordinary Zimbabweans through starvation. They want to impose their puppet as our leader, and say no one else is acceptable, yet they have the cheek to call us undemocratic."
Kouchner spoke after the African Union called for a national unity government in Zimbabwe following the controversial re-election of President Robert Mugabe in poll scarred by violence.
The African Union (AU) summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Tuesday adopted a resolution calling for dialogue between Zimbabwe's political foes and forming a national unity government.
The AU agreed to encourage President Mugabe and the Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai "to initiate a dialogue with a view to promoting peace and stability," according to the resolution.
It also decided "to support the call for the creation of a government of national unity, to support SADC (Southern African Development Community) facilitation."
Thomas L. Blair is a sociologist and political blogger on the Chronicleworld 'for creative renewal in Black Britain and Afro-Europe'. His work is honoured in the British Library's archive of "social, historic and culturally significant web-based material from the UK domain". He won top prize in the blogging competition on The-Latest.
Sumantra Maitra is a freelance journalist from Mumbai, India. He is a correspondent for All Sports magazine, and a foreign affairs blogger for the Washington Examiner. He has written articles for news website Merinews.com and other regional publications. Sumantra runs a blog at DailyWorldWatch.wordpress.com. He provided exclusive eyewitness reports for The-Latest on the Mumbai bombings of 2008.
Brian Usher is photography consultant for The-Latest.Com. He is a highly experienced editorial and commercial photographer whose work has been published throughout the world, appearing in many well known magazines and newspapers. Brian has featured in several books and has been a writer for the Royal Photographic Society magazine.
Heidi Kingstone has spent time in Afghanistan reporting for a number of publications. Her work has appeared in the Financial Times, The Spectator, The Sunday Times and other international journals. She has also reported from places like Iraq, Rwanda, Lebanon, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Kenya. Heidi is The-Latest's Editor at large.
latest comments