(BORDEAUX) - South Africa and the European Union Friday wrapped up a landmark summit with Brussels solidly backing Pretoria's mediating role in Zimbabwe as the only way of ending ruinous political chaos.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy -- whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU -- showered fulsome praise on South Africa's Thabo Mbeki on his "bold and courageous" intervention.

"We wholeheartedly support the courageous mediation by President Mbeki and back the idea to give him more time," Sarkozy said at a joint news conference after the end of the first EU-South Africa summit, held in the picturesque French city of Bordeaux.

"Mbeki's mediation must be supported," he said, adding: "there is no other way possible now and everyone in Europe agrees on this."

But Sarkozy said he would not be talking to Mugabe, "because I judge what he has done very severely."

European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso hailed the meeting as "a historical moment in the development of our partnership," calling South Africa a leading and respected player on the world stage.

The meeting had been overshadowed by the political crisis in Zimbabwe and the diametrically opposed stands of Pretoria and Brussels on ways of resolving the impasse after veteran President Robert Mugabe's re-election in a one-man run-off following a controversial first round.

The EU on Tuesday widened sanctions against Zimbabwe despite a deal brokered by Mbeki between Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on talks for a future government.

Brussels views Mugabe as a tyrant who has crushed human rights and democracy and led the once-model African economy to ruin burdened with the world's highest inflation rate.

Mbeki, on the other hand, has so far failed to publicly criticise Mugabe, and appears opposed to any attempt to arm-twist the octogenarian leader and to bow to any form of Western pressure.

On Friday, Mbeki sought to emphasise that the positions on Zimbabwe were narrowing and said in reply to a question that he had not asked for the new sanctions to be repealed.

"All of us agreed that it is important that Zimbabwean political parties should move forward to reach agreement ... on the formation of an inclusive government and a common programme to take Zimbabwe forward.

"I think everybody in the world wants this to happen as a matter of urgency," he said. "I really sincerely appreciate the support expressed by President Sarkozy."

Mbeki's 16-month mediation has been slammed by critics as being too soft on Mugabe.

Mbeki sidestepped a question on whether he was seeking a dignified exit for Mugabe, whose status as an African liberation hero is still largely undimmed on the continent.

"They (the Zimbabweans) will have to take the decision about who retires when. It's not something that comes from the mediation," he said.

Other key issues include the situation in African flashpoints in Chad and Sudan's violence-riven Darfur region, the ongoing world trade talks, and the establishment of a free trade area between the EU and South Africa by 2012.

Sarkozy said he was seeking Mbeki's help in pressuring Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir, who faces an international arrest warrant for allegedly ordering his forces to annihilate three non-Arab groups in Darfur, masterminding murder, torture, pillaging and using rape to commit genocide.

The summit coincided with an announcement by Zimbabwe's ruling party that Mugabe's controversial re-election was a "non-negotiable" issue in ongoing talks with the opposition in South Africa.

The Bordeaux summit saw the signing of a declaration aimed at slashing emission levels by half between now and 2050 to fight climate change.

On trade issues, the other focus of the talks, an irritant is the Economic Partnership Agreement Brussels is negotiating with African states to replace colonial preferential trade agreements.

Pretoria says smaller African economies may be pressured into giving up more for increased market access to the EU.

Bilateral trade between South Africa and the EU has increased more than five-fold between 1994 to 2007 from 56.5 billion rand (7.5 billion dollars, 4.7 billion euros) to 313 billion rand, according to South African figures.

South Africa - EU trade

EU-South Africa Summit on 25 July in Bordeaux

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