African leaders hoped to find a resolution to Zimbabwe's deepening political crisis Saturday at an emergency summit in Zambia, but Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe refused to attend, underlining his growing isolation in the region and the world.
Instead, South African President Thabo Mbeki, the chief mediator in the crisis, met with Mugabe for 90 minutes in Harare before the summit and declared "there is no crisis in Zimbabwe."
Official results from the March 29 election have yet to be released two weeks after the vote. Independent tallies suggest Mugabe lost, but garnered enough votes to force a runoff. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai says he won outright and has traveled around the region asking neighboring leaders to push for Mugabe to resign.
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