HARARE (AFP) — Zimbabwe on Thursday told former UN secretary general Kofi Annan to postpone a visit set for this weekend, when he plans to lead a group of dignitaries to highlight the humanitarian crisis here.
Annan announced last week that he would travel to Zimbabwe this weekend with former US president Jimmy Carter and rights activist Graca Machel, wife of former South African president Nelson Mandela.
The former UN chief said they wanted to find ways to ease the plight of Zimbabwe's people, with nearly half the population needing emergency food aid and a cholera epidemic sweeping across the country.
But the government-mouthpiece Herald newspaper accused the three, who belong to a group of senior statesman known as the Elders, of seeking to boost the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in power-sharing talks with President Robert Mugabe.
"The visit has been deemed a partisan mission by a group of people with partisan interests," an unnamed government source said in the paper.
"The Elders wrote to Government on the intended visit, but they have been advised that while it appreciates the humanitarian concern by the group, it was important for them to plan their visit on a date that is convenient and agreed to by both sides," the source added.
When Annan announced the visit last week, he said the mission was purely humanitarian and would not not touch on the protracted negotiations to form a unity government under a two-month-old power-sharing deal.
But he added: "Delays in forming a government are prolonging the suffering of the people."
Mugabe and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai agreed on September 15 to form a unity government, but the talks have broken down over disputes on how to divide control of key cabinet posts.
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