Southern African
leaders gathered Monday for a summit in South Africa in an effort to revive the
stalled power-sharing process. The government of President Robert Mugabe said
he will move to form a government unilaterally - without the opposition Movement for Democratic Change formation of Morgan Tsvangirai - if the talks failed.
VOA's Scott Bobb
reported from Johannesburg.
Correspondent Benedict Nhlapho of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbawe reported from Pretoria or Tswane on developments at the summit site at the Union Buildings.
For an
analytical view, reporter Ntungamili Nkomo turned to Siphamandla Zondi of the Institute
for Global Dialogue in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Sources in Pretoria
said a number of people at the Union Buildings summit site were injured when
police fired rubber bullets to disperse a crowd of demonstrators, sparking a
stampede. About 25 people were treated for injuries at the Tswane District Hospital,
the sources said.
Some
demonstrators who attempted to submit a petition to South African President Motlanthe
were briefly detained by police.
The protest
was organized by the Save Zimbabwe Now Campaign which represents more than 15
organizations demanding an end to the Zimbabwe crisis and resolution of the
talks.
Reverend Mufaro
Hove, patron of the Revolutionary Youth Movement
of Zimbabwe in South Africa, one of the injured, told reporter Jonga Kandemiiri
that some of the injured did not seek medical care for fear of being deported
as they lack legal status in the country.
More reports from VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe...