Kenya urges AU to suspend Mugabe
Raila Odinga calls for Robert Mugabe's suspension
Kenyan PM Raila Odinga has urged the African Union to suspend Robert Mugabe from the bloc until he allows free and fair elections in Zimbabwe.
The call came as the Zimbabwe opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said the country faced a constitutional crisis.
The Zimbabwe crisis has overshadowed the African Union summit in Egypt.
Correspondents say the AU's response to the Zimbabwe crisis will be a major test of the bloc's effectiveness.
Mr Mugabe claimed a landslide victory as the sole candidate in the presidential election re-run after the MDC's leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, withdrew.
But African observers said the election had been undermined by pre-poll violence.
Speaking to reporters in Nairobi, Mr Odinga said: "They should suspend him and send peace forces to Zimbabwe to ensure free and fair elections."
Mr Odinga, a vocal critic of Mr Mugabe, says the AU would set a dangerous precedent by accepting him as "a duly elected president".
The UN has urged African leaders to try to negotiate a solution to the crisis.
No talks
The South African presidency said it would consider reports from election observers together with other members of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) before adopting a unified position regarding the result.
The MDC says the way forward must reflect the outcome of the first round of voting in March, when Mr Tsvangirai won more votes than President Mugabe.
The opposition is prepared to take part in a transitional arrangement or a government of national unity, but it says there are no negotiations currently under way between Mr Tsvangirai and the ruling Zanu-PF party.
The BBC's southern Africa correspondent Peter Biles says that apart from the recent political violence in Zimbabwe, there is continuing economic hardship, with inflation in the region of nine million per cent and the country heading for the worst harvest in 60 years
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