African leaders on Monday pushed President Robert Mugabe to open talks with the Zimbabwean opposition after he was re-elected unopposed in an election condemned as violent and unfair by the continent's monitors, Reuters reported.
Mugabe, 84, attended an African Union summit in Egypt soon after being sworn in for a new term, extending his unbroken rule since independence from Britain in 1980.
As Mugabe arrived, the African Union's monitors said Friday's election did not meet their standards, the third African observer group to condemn the poll.
The summit appeared opposed to a push by Western countries at the United Nations for sanctions to punish Mugabe but was moving towards a consensus on negotiations to end the crisis in the ruined country.
South Africa called for Mugabe's ZANU-PF and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC to enter talks on a transitional government. Tsvangirai withdrew from the ballot because of attacks on his supporters.
Pretoria is the designated southern African mediator for Zimbabwe, although President Thabo Mbeki has been widely accused of being ineffective and too soft on Mugabe.
The statement was the first time South Africa has publicly called for a unity government and appeared to indicate the line the African Union will take. Any stronger measures are likely to be blocked by divisions at the summit.
The United States has drafted a U.N. resolution calling for the Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Zimbabwe and freeze the assets of Mugabe's inner circle.
"We will press for strong action by the United Nations, but we could also act unilaterally," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.
But South Africa, China and Russia appear sure to block it as they have opposed other strong measures against Mugabe.
Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis has ruined a once prosperous country, saddling it with the world's worst hyper-inflation and straining neighbouring nations, especially South Africa, with a flood of millions of economic refugees.
Conference sources said countries from east and west Africa wanted to take a strong stand but Mugabe's neighbours in southern Africa were divided.
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, Mugabe's biggest critic in the southern region, was rushed to hospital in Egypt just before the summit after suffering a stroke.
Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, a Mugabe critic, called in Nairobi for his suspension from the AU until a fair election was held. But President Mwai Kibaki told Reuters at the summit negotiations for a unity government were the only solution.
Asked if Mugabe would accept a deal agreed by the summit, Congo Republic's President Denis Sassou-Nguesso said: "We will persuade him to accept the solution that we will propose. This is certain. We are invested in this."