Mbeki expects Zim deal soon
2008-08-16 14:51
Special Report
Zimbabwean prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai says there has been progress in talks between the country's two political parties.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe says he doesn't expect the US sanctions on his country to be lifted soon.
Johannesburg - There could soon be a long-awaited end to negotiations between Zimbabwe's rival leaders, President Thabo Mbeki told the SADC summit on Saturday.
"This summit affords us the possibility to assist the Zimbabwean parties to finalise their negotiations so that together they can engage the work to achieve national healing and reconciliation," Mbeki told the Southern African Development Community summit.
Finalising negotiations would allow the country to "attend to the matter of reconstruction and development of Zimbabwe and in this way extricate the masses of the people from the dire straits in which they find themselves," he added.
He said the summit afforded the country the possibility to assist the Zimbabwe parties to finalise their negotiations so that they could begin the reconciliation and reconstruction of the country.
"In this way extricate the masses of the people from the dire straits in which they find themselves," he said.
'Blot on the culture of democracy'
Outgoing SADC chair, Zambia, said the political situation in Zimbabwe had negatively impacted on the ideals of democracy and on the integrity of the region.
Reading a speech prepared on behalf of Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, the country's Foreign Affairs Minister Kabinga Pande said: "Zimbabwe has no doubt left a serious blot on the culture of democracy in the region."
He said the recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa also "dented" efforts to implement the free flow of people across the region's various borders.
African Union Commission chief Jean Ping said he saluted Mbeki's efforts in facilitating the negotiations between the rival Zimbabwean leaders.
"I express my gratitude to President Thabo Mbeki for the tireless efforts that he has shown in helping our Zimbabwean brothers overcome their differences and to take on in the interest of Zimbabweans the new challenges that confront their country," Ping said.
Mugabe silent
Throughout the speeches, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe sat in silence, blinking a few times.
Leaders from the two factions of the rival Movement for Democratic Change party, Arthur Mutambara and Morgan Tsvangirai arrived at the summit shortly before Mugabe.
When asked by reporters if Tsvangirai was in high spirits, he simply said: "I don't whether there is a barometer for spirits."
- SAPA