Cool reception for Mugabe
2008-08-16 08:12
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Special Report
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe says some white farmers will be spared under his controversial land reforms.
Zimbabwe's coalition government still has many challenges to face.
Johannesburg - When Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe attends a weekend summit he will face protests and pressure to surrender at least some of his power.
Botswana said its president will not attend the southern African summit because Mugabe will be there, and once-supportive South Africans are to hold an anti-Mugabe march when the leaders meet.
The Southern African Development Community was to focus on efforts to fight poverty by regional development through cross-border co-operation - the two-day meeting is to close on Sunday with the announcement of a free trade agreement. But such economic good news was overshadowed by political trouble in Zimbabwe that was creating tension within the 14-member SADC bloc.
Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai met with key southern African leaders in Johannesburg on the eve of the summit. Aide George Sibotshiwe said Tsvangirai was briefing them on talks aimed at forming a transitional unity government being mediated by President Thabo Mbeki, who takes over SADC's rotating chair at the summit.
Mugabe's party says the talks, on hold since Tsvangirai walked out on Tuesday, could resume on the sidelines of the summit. But Sibotshiwe said prospects for more talks depended "on the sincerity of Robert Mugabe".
Condemnation for Mugabe
Botswana, which has had to accommodate refugees from the political and economic crisis in neighbouring Zimbabwe, had called on SADC to bar Mugabe from the summit. Other members refused to take what would have been an extraordinary step.
On Friday, Botswana President Seretse Ian Khama's government issued a statement saying Khama would not attend the summit, but would send the foreign minister.
The mounting crisis in Zimbabwe has cracked the traditional solidarity of African leaders.
Kenya, Liberia and Zambia have condemned Mugabe's administration.
In the past, Mugabe has been cheered by ordinary South Africans who embraced his fiery anti-colonial rhetoric. But this weekend, the powerful Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) was joining labour and human rights groups from across the region in an anti-Mugabe protest march at the summit. Cosatu leader Zwelinzima Vavi recently called Zimbabwe an island of "dictatorship surrounded by a sea of democracy in our region".
- AP