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  • SOUTH AFRICA: German Chancellor Angela Merkel says crisis in Zimbabwe is "disastrous" after meeting with South African President Thabo Mbeki

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SOUTH AFRICA: German Chancellor Angela Merkel says crisis in Zimbabwe is "disastrous" after meeting with South African President Thabo Mbeki

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday (October 5) described the crisis in Zimbabwe as "disastrous" after talks with South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has been criticised for not taking a tough line on the issue. "South Africa is itself very influenced by the situation in Zimbabwe, not least because of the many refugees coming over, and so has its own interest in a solution. I made it clear in our talks that the situation is difficult, not to say a disastrous one which I very clearly said in our conversations," Merkel said after holding talks with Mbeki in Pretoria. A source familiar with the meeting's agenda said earlier the German chancellor would try to persuade Mbeki to take a harder line with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. Critics accuse Mugabe of human rights abuses and of presiding over the collapse of Zimbabwe's economy, which has the world's highest inflation rate of about 6,600 percent and unemployment levels of about 80 percent. Mbeki has adopted a policy of "quiet diplomacy" toward Mugabe and has been mediating talks between Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party and the Movement for Democratic Change, the southern African nation's main opposition group. Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, is subject to an EU travel ban, although it is expected that it would be suspended to allow him to attend the summit. The Zimbabwean leader says the West has sabotaged his country's economy as punishment for his seizure of thousands of white-owned firms and the transfer of the land to poor blacks. His critics blame the problems on economic mismanagement.

ITN Source | October 6, 2007Watch more videos from ITN Source

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