Enlarge By Philimon Bulawayo, REUTERS Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for Democratic Change, has repeatedly called on South Africa President Thabo Mbeki to step down from his mediation role. JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP)  Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has rejected an African Union decision to keep South Africa's president alone in charge of efforts to resolve Zimbabwe's political crisis. Speaking to reporters at his home in Harare, Zimbabwe's capital, Tsvangirai said Wednesday that his group would not participate in talks about forming a governing accord with President Robert Mugabe's government unless an additional mediator was appointed. The opposition leader's comments came a day after an AU summit reconfirmed South Africa President Thabo Mbeki as mediator. "Our reservations about the mediation process under President Mbeki are well known," said Tsvangirai, head of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. "Unless the mediation team is expanded ... and the mediation mechanism is changed, no meaningful progress can be made toward resolving the Zimbabwe crisis." "If this does not happen, then the MDC will not be part of the mediation process," Tsvangirai said. Tsvangirai has repeatedly called on Mbeki to step down from his mediation role, saying Mbeki's refusal to publicly criticize Mugabe amounts to appeasement. Mugabe has extolled Mbeki's role. The opposition "as the winner of the last credible elections on March 29, 2008, should be recognized as the legitimate government of Zimbabwe," Tsvangirai said. "While the MDC remains committed to negotiations, these must be based on the March 29 results and must move towards a transitional agreement." Tsvangirai said violence against Mugabe critics had continued, with at least nine supporters killed and hundreds beaten and forced to flee since a one-candidate presidential runoff held Friday. The U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe, James McGee, said a Zimbabwean driver for the embassy disappeared three days ago, emerging Wednesday to say he had been accosted by unknown assailants, blindfolded and taken to a small room where he was questioned and denied food or water. The incident appeared to be an attempt to intimidate people connected with the U.S. Embassy, which has been a vocal critic of Mugabe. "The violence seems to be at least at the same level (as before the runoff). It may even be getting worse," McGee said in an interview. "We've heard stories, unconfirmed, of hit lists. But we do know for a fact that people are being murdered. People continue to disappear." Tsvangirai came in first in a field of four in the first round of presidential voting in March. Electoral officials said Tsvangirai did not win the simple majority and scheduled a runoff against second-place finisher Mugabe. State-supported violence against opposition members forced Tsvangirai to withdraw days before Friday's runoff. Mugabe held the vote anyway, despite international condemnation. He was declared the overwhelming winner Sunday and immediately held an inauguration ceremony. Zimbabwean state media, meanwhile, focused Wednesday on reports the government was willing to talk and prominently showed official tallies from last week's runoff, apparently to underline Mugabe's expectations of being the senior partner in any deal with Tsvangirai. 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 the group the AU has said should remain in charge of the effort. Mbeki told his state broadcaster he saw his role as merely helping Zimbabweans resolve their crisis themselves, rejecting outside intervention such as calls from European nations to void what they saw as a sham election. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told France 2 public TV that the European Union would not accept any Zimbabwe government other than one led by Tsvangirai and called last week's presidential runoff a "farce." EU spokesman John Clancy added Wednesday that EU governments were studying possible additional sanctions against Mugabe and his government, in addition to already existing travel bans and an assets freeze in place on Mugabe, his Cabinet ministers and top party officials. Those could include further aid cuts or economic sanctions preventing European companies from doing business in Zimbabwe. The United States also is considering toughening sanctions. Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 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Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa and mediator in the Zimbabwean conflict. 

Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Zimbabwean opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), says he will not participate in power sharing negotiations with President Robert Mugabe, who was widely accused of using violence and intimidation to win Sunday's run-off election.

The opposition leader, Mugabe's only rival in the election before dropping out due to fears of violence, cited South African President Thabo Mbeki's role as mediator in the conflict, as appointed by the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Tsvangirai has often criticized Mbeki for failing to publicly condemn Robert Mugabe, and has repeatedly called for him to step down.

Tsvangirai says that "no meaningful progress can be made toward resolving the Zimbabwe crisis" if the SADC or the African Union does not appoint at least one other mediator. "If this does not happen," he says, "then the MDC will not be part of the mediation process." 

He added, "If dialogue is to be initiated, it is essential that ZANU-PF stops the violence, halts the persecution of MDC leaders and supporters." The MDC says that 9 of its supporters have been killed by the state since the run-off, bringing the death toll up to at least 95.

Earlier on Tuesday, leaders at an African Union summit voiced their support for dialogue aimed at the creation of a unity government in Zimbabwe. "We encourage President Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to honour their commitment to initiate dialogue with a view to promote peace, stability, democracy and reconciliation in Zimbabwe," the AU said in a statement.

While the opposition rejected the idea of discussion, the Zimbabwe government called it a "welcome resolution", as stated by Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu. "Government is ready for dialogue with anyone," he said, "so long as it isn't dialogue concocted by the West." In his inauguration speech, Mugabe had said he was open to negotiations.

Tsvangirai believes that if a unified government were to be created, it should be based on the results of the original March 29 election, in which he received more votes but not enough to avoid a run-off. "We remain committed to negotiations or talks, call them what you will, but they should be based on the fact that we won the last credible election on March 29," Tsvangirai said. "Then we can move towards some transitional arrangement."

The European Union agrees with Tsvangirai on this point. Taking into account the March 29 vote, EU spokesman John Clancy says, "it's clear that Tsvangirai should be a leading member of that government as its potential prime minister or the head of government to ensure that certain reforms can take place." The EU had been placing pressure on the African Union to take strong measures against Mugabe's government.