Zimbabwe opposition says Mbeki not enough

Johannesburg: Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai rejected an African Union decision to leave efforts to resolve the country's political crisis in the hands of the South African president, saying on Wednesday his group would not participate without an additional mediator.

Tsvangirai was speaking to reporters at his home in Harare, Zimbabwe's capital, a day after an African Union summit reconfirmed South Africa's Thabo Mbeki as mediator.

Tsvangirai has repeatedly called on Mbeki to step down, saying Mbeki's refusal to publicly criticise Mugabe amounts to appeasement.

He said it was well known that his group, Movement for Democratic Change, has reservations about the mediation process under Mbeki.

"It is our position that unless the mediation team is expanded to include at least one permanent representative from the African Union and the mediation mechanism is changed, no meaningful progress can be made toward resolving the Zimbabwe crisis," he said.

"If this does not happen, then the MDC will not be part of the mediation process," Tsvangirai said.

Mbeki's spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga said any question of expanding the mediation team would have to be left to the Southern African Development Community, the main regional body that appointed Mbeki mediator more than a year ago, and that the AU should remain in charge of the effort.