Heads of state and government of the African Union disappointed hopes among international observers and Western governments that they would take President Robert Mugabe to task for his re-election in a ballot widely seen as illegitimate and his inauguration at top speed.
World attention was focused on the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh as African leaders opened a two-day summit on Monday, but they gave little indication they would even criticize let alone censure Mr. Mugabe over his country's degraded electoral process.
Despite international outrage over Friday's one-man run-off election and his inauguration in rapid sequence on Sunday, Mr. Mugabe got a warm welcome in Sharm El-Sheikh. He walked into the main conference hall side by side with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, summit host, and Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, who holds the rotating AU presidency.
A.U. avoided direct criticism of Mr. Mugabe. In the summit's opening session, Mr. Kikwete spoke only of "challenges" in Zimbabwe. Speaking in Swahili through a translator, Mr. Kikwete congratulated the Zimbabwean people for what he called their success and avoided any direct criticism of Mr. Mugabe for what many have described as a 'sham' election.