UPDATED: Mediators to Call for Zimbabe Summit
HARARE – African mediators trying to break Zimbabwe’s political impasse will call on regional leaders to convene a new summit to resolve the crisis, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said Friday.
UPDATE: Sources within the MDC leadership said they refused to be pushed around by a bunch of foreign Ministers from SADC countries whose agenda was to take directives from Robert Mugabe and former South African President Thabo Mbeki.
The South African delegation in the SADC ministerial delegation dominated the proceedings and most of its members were former staff members of retired South African President Thabo Mbeki’s, with former Director-General Rev Chikane being vocal in an effort to put pressure on the MDC.
An MDC source said, Rev Chikane was pulling the strings on behalf of his handlers.
It is believed that DRC President Joseph Kabila went to South Africa and met with former South African President Thabo Mbeki in private before his arrival in Harare.
Tsvangirai told reporters the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) defence, political and security troika would recommend holding a special summit to discuss difficulties facing his strained unity government with President Robert Mugabe. Tsvangirai said no date had been set.
A Southern African delegation tried to exert pressure on Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC to end a cabinet boycott in an effort to resolve rifts threatening Zimbabwe’s power-sharing government, but the MDC has refused to give in on their demands.
The premier spoke after meeting with mediators from the 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC), which brokered his nation’s unity accord last year.
Mediators from SADC’s so-called Troika on security issues were later set to meet with long-ruling President Robert Mugabe, two weeks after Tsvangirai suspended cooperation with the veteran ruler’s party.
“I have been advised that the SADC Troika will recommend the convening of an extraordinary summit to deal with the matter,” Tsvangirai told reporters.
“The Troika does not solve anything. Its mandate is to gather information and make recommendations,” he said.
“We have to find a solution to the crisis so we can get the inclusive government working again,” he added.
After suspending cooperation with Mugabe, Tsvangirai launched a regional tour to urge neighouring nations to intervene in the crisis, sparked by the arrest of a top aide to the premier.
Posted by Dave Fish Eagle
on October 30, 2009. Filed under Main Headline.
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