Manila - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday urged African leaders to take "very decisive" steps to end a standoff between Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. The 15-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) has called for an urgent summit to end the deadlock between Mugabe and Tsvangirai over a unity government aimed at ending Zimbabwe's political crisis.
"Now that SADC has decided to convene their full summit meeting, I hope that these leaders of SADC - considering their responsibility to see peace and stability maintained in their region - should really take very decisive measures to help resolve this crisis," Ban told reporters in Manila, where he attended an international conference on migration.
"This has been taking too long," he added. "I sincerely hope that President Mugabe should no longer disappoint the international community."
Ban noted that there has been "a long and urgent call" from the international community for Mugabe to agree to power-sharing under a September deal in which he would remain president and Tsvangirai become prime minister.
