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. Monday, 18 March, 2002


South African, Nigerian Leaders Meet Mugabe

VOA News
18 Mar 2002
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The leaders of South Africa and Nigeria have held talks in Zimbabwe with President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on last week's disputed presidential election. 

South African President Thabo Mbeki and his Nigerian counterpart Olusegun Obasanjo provided few details about the results of their talks Monday. Mr. Obasanjo called on Zimbabwe's leaders to work together to address serious economic problems in the country. 

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's main trade union federation has called a three-day general strike to begin Wednesday. The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions said the strike is to defend the rights of workers and to protest harassment of workers in the wake of the presidential elections. 

In another development, Zimbabwe's Commercial Farmers Union says suspected ruling party militants shot and killed a white farmer Monday near the town of Norton, west of the capital, Harare. The victim was the 10th white farmer killed since militants began forcibly occupying white-owned farms two years ago. 

Mr. Mugabe was sworn in to another term on Sunday, and vowed to speed up his controversial and often violent land reform program. The opposition has rejected the election results and many foreign observers denounced the way this month's balloting was conducted. 

South Africa, Nigeria and Australia make up a Commonwealth advisory committee that will assess the situation and recommend possible sanctions against Zimbabwe. The three-member committee is to hold a meeting Tuesday in London. 

Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.

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