Zimbabwe's incumbent president, Robert Mugabe, was sworn in for another term on Saturday, after an election international observers almost unanimously condemned as illegitimate. Mugabe's opponent, Morgan Tsivangirai , withdrew last week after widespread violence against his supporters.

For months, Mugabe's opponents led in polls, and won the first round of voting in March. Last week's election was a runoff. After Tsivangirai withdrew, Mugabe -- the only candidate left in the race, declared victory by 85 percent.

The election has been widely criticized in Africa, but as leaders of the African Union -- including Mugabe -- gather today in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh many observers wonder if they will have the political will to openly question Mugabe's legitimacy. South African leader Thabo Mbeki, the AU's designated negotiator, has been singled out for criticism for his reluctance to take any significant steps against Mugabe. German papers were full of indignation over the situation and expressed little reason for hope.

Munich's Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

"How good would it be if the AU seized the old man, if they destroyed his sense of self-importance, if they confronted him with the cold, hard facts: Mugabe took power through violence, he turned this election into a farce, and therefore he's not a legitimate president."

"But will that happen? Probably not, since so many African leaders are afraid to pull down their one-time icon. Many may fear that a judgment against Mugabe will but them under pressure themselves. In many places in Africa elections are still manipulated and fakes and tricksters slap each other on the back. (Criticism of Mugabe) could threaten them too. Africa is missing a major opportunity to deal with its own problems."

Business daily Handelsblatt focuses on the money:

"The scale of his economic failure, the state terror, the social trauma caused by the mass migration of people and capital are as bad as a state at war. In just eight years Zimbabwe's economy has shrunk by over 40 percent. That's worse than in civil war-afflicted nations like Sierra Leone or the Congo. …"

"Particularly painful is the role of South Africa and its president, Thabo Mbeki. For years considered the hope of the West, Mbeki has finally showed himself to be an anti-democrat and Mugabe's most faithful subject. Still, South Africa holds the key to a solution in Zimbabwe: If the country decided to close its northern border to trade, just for one day, Mugabe's machine would grind to a halt."

"For Zimbabwe there may be just one painful hope left: that the dictatorship will be broken by economic realities. Inflation is already over 2 million percent. The chaos that Mugabe himself created may do what no one else has been able to: chase him out of office."

The left-leaning Berliner Zeitung writes:

"There has been Western criticism, the threat of sanctions and unproductive debates in the UN Security Council that followed Tsvangirai's withdrawal, but Mugabe has continued to defy the international community over the years. These efforts haven't served to weaken the dictator. Instead they have made him stronger because they enable him to blame the collapse of Zimbabwe's economy on the West. And though the criticism from Africa has grown, it's unlikely that Africa's leaders -- a majority of whom are dictators themselves -- will do much harm to Mugabe. Many of them still pay their respects to him, quietly or in public. Mugabe also faces negotiations that he is eager to being: The Zimbabwean leadr knows well that nothing eases international pressure like protracted discussions that eventually get lost in the details."

Meanwhile, conservative daily Die Welt writes:

"Zimbabwe is an internal African problem. Since Nobel Prize winner Nelson Mandela openly criticized Mugabe, the number of African voices attacking his regime has grown. They now include South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Kenyan leader Raila Odinga. At a summit that begins on Monday, African leaders have the opportunity to show the world they can handle the problem. Refusing to recongize the results of the election would be a good start. South Africa's Thabo Mbeki has the solution to the problem in his hands, but his passivity is causing problems in his own country too."