Mugabe axed from Ivorian mediation panel
President Robert Mugabe will not be mediator in the Ivory Coast conflict despite media reports from Addis Ababa saying he had been nominated to the panel of heads of state to act as intermediaries in the West African state.
The African Union (AU) on Monday named named heads of state Jacob Zuma of South Africa, Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, Idriss Deby of Chad, Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso and Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania to resolve the election dispute in Ivory Coast.
A top Zimbabwe delegate in Addis Ababa told reporters that Zimbabwe could not be part of that panel because it had its own elections to organise.
"We could not be part of that panel because we have our own elections this year and there is still a lot that needs to be done to organise our election," he said.
There were reports on Sunday that President Mugabe had been selected to the panel of mediators to the Ivory Coast crisis.
The panel, which is expected to complete its work within a month, will also include AU Commission chairperson Jean Ping and president of the Economic Community of West African States James Victor Gbebo.
The heads of state and government from the five geographical regions in Africa have been tasked with persuading Ivorian leader Laurent Gbabgo to relinquish power in the world's largest cocoa producing country.
