Zim mediation on track - SADC
2007-08-02 22:44
Gaborone - The Southern African Development Community (SADC) denied on Thursday its efforts to end a political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe were crumbling.
"This is a process and a very delicate one," said SADC secretary general Tomaz Salomao. "If you have a problem in one meeting, you cannot say that the whole process has failed."
Leaders of SADC's 14 nations delegated South African President Thabo Mbeki in March to mediate talks between
Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF party and the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
The move followed a crackdown on MDC activists which sparked
international outrage and renewed calls on African nations to
pressure President Robert Mugabe to agree to political reforms.
Growing refugee crisis
Despite a media blackout on the talks, there are reports
that South African negotiators have struggled to get Zanu-PF
representatives and the MDC to agree on anything of substance in
the past five months.
Mbeki will report on the progress of the talks this month (August) at a SADC summit in Lusaka, South Africa's Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad told a separate press conference in Pretoria.
Scrutiny of the talks has intensified in the wake of a
growing refugee crisis.
Thousands of Zimbabweans are crossing daily into South Africa, legally and illegally, to buy food and look for work.
The influx has raised fears that South Africa, the continent's
economic powerhouse, will be overwhelmed.
Zimbabwe is struggling with official inflation of about
5 000%, soaring poverty, 80% unemployment and chronic shortages of food, fuel and foreign exchange.
Salomao said SADC was preparing to recommend that fertiliser, fuel and other energy supplies be supplied to Zimbabwe to ease the crisis. He did not give further details of the proposal.
- Reuters