Maravi

I am an innocent man - Mugabe

I am an innocent man - Mugabe
By Chansa Kabwela and Webster Malido in Dar-es-Salaam
Friday March 30, 2007 [12:02]

I AM an innocent man, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said on Thursday. And SADC leaders on Thursday declared that they had started taking action to correct the situation in Zimbabwe. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's secretary of state for information and publicity George Charamba said President Mugabe would continue to tell the West to hang as long as the concerns have the effect to undermine that country's sovereignty. When asked if he had been put under pressure during his meeting with his counterparts in Dar-es-Salaam, President Mugabe replied: "I am an innocent man, I have killed nobody." President Mugabe was among the SADC leaders that left immediately the meeting ended at about 16:00 hours local time.

And Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete, who briefed the press shortly after the joint communiqué that was released after the extraordinary summit, said the Southern African Development Community (SADC) had for the first time taken steps to discuss the issue of Zimbabwe frankly and had been able to come up with the way forward. President Kikwete said SADC leaders had decided to promote dialogue in Zimbabwe as it could help to address the current differences. "When we get to a point where we are now taking action, give us the encouragement. Don't talk about the past, what we have done and what we haven't done and what is appropriate. I went to Zimbabwe and we had a lot of consultation that ended up with the summit and the landmark decision of formally promoting dialogue," President Kikwete said. "It's the first time in SADC that we have been able to discuss the issue of Zimbabwe so open, so frankly and taking the decision that has been taken. We need to encourage the process, encourage the government, the opposition so that they take the dialogue seriously and surely if this happens you will see a difference in Zimbabwe and we are determined to get there."

President Kikwete said the SADC leaders had mandated South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki to facilitate dialogue between the Zimbabwean government and the opposition in a bid to address that country's political problems. He explained that President Mbeki would work with the SADC troika of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation. "The political atmosphere in Zimbabwe is confrontational and it is not good for the democratic dispensation. The appeal to the parties is to be co-operative to give this initiative a chance which we believe if given a chance it will deliver; but also for the parties involved to exercise restraint; avoiding as much as they can anything that will inflame the situation as we try to build towards a new democratic dispensation in Zimbabwe, an atmosphere that is going to be friendly, an atmosphere that is going to be conducive for the coming elections," he said.

Asked what criteria had been used to pick President Mbeki to facilitate dialogue when of late he had been criticised for remaining mute over the situation in Zimbabwe and whether he had accepted, President Kikwete said SADC and Zimbabwe had confidence in the South African President. "I don't want to speak on behalf of those who think Mbeki is doing nothing. I don't subscribe to the concept. President Mbeki accepted and President Mugabe did not object to it," he said. Asked whether SADC had any other capacity for possible action in an event that dialogue fails in Zimbabwe, President Kikwete said the regional body did not anticipate that but that the situation would be monitored and further action would be taken. He also said the summit discussed Zimbabwe's diplomatic relations, which were generally hostile.

President Kikwete said relations were not healthy and that the international community should assist the situation in Zimbabwe. "Our appeal to the international community is that all of us work towards facilitating the process. Whatever anyone of us can do to help the process move forward we should try to do that. Of course the summit looked at the continued isolation of Zimbabwe and said let the parties revisit the situation. There is always leverage through accommodation," he said.

President Kikwete said the summit also expressed concern over Zimbabwe's economic situation and appealed for the lifting of all forms of sanctions. He said the extraordinary summit mandated the SADC executive secretary to undertake a study on the economic situation in Zimbabwe and propose measures on how the regional body could help. "When you look at the macroeconomic numbers, GDP growth, inflation rates, exchange rates, they speak volumes about the health of Zimbabwe's economy. It is a situation that should not be left to continue. All of us in SADC agreed that we should try and help in our own small way," President Kikwete said. "The summit mandated the executive secretary of SADC to conduct a study on Zimbabwe's economic situation and come up with proposals and report to the SADC troika, SADC has two troikas. There is the troika of the organ on politics, which I am chairman and there is the troika of the SADC itself where the Prime Minister Mosisili is chairing and then there is President Mwanawasa and Botswana in that troika. In the troika of the organ on politics there is Tanzania, Angola and Namibia. The troika will look at the recommendations and decide what it is that we can possibly do."

Asked over the timeframe and whether the study on the economic situation would be tied to the political situation since they were inter-related, President Kikwete said the approach to addressing the problems had been separated despite the inter-relation. "You cannot heap everything on one individual so we separated the process," he said. Asked whether SADC leaders had discussed President Mugabe's intention to re-contest the elections, President Kikwete said the summit did not table the matter.

On the situation in Lesotho, he said political parties in the opposition complained to SADC ministers who were meeting over the way seats for proportional representation were given. President Kikwete said the summit had decided to send a SADC delegation at ministerial level to assess the situation in Lesotho as requested by political parties. On the political situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), President Kikwete said all SADC were leaders concerned with developments in that country in that they were interested in seeing peace after the many years of conflict.

He said the summit decided that the DRC should have only one national army as opposed to the current situation where political parties and even individuals had their own private troops. "This situation is not going to help rebuild peace in DRC. The summit has appealed to the political parties, to individuals who have armed groups or elements to integrate these groups into the Congolese national army. If they don't want to do this they should demobilise. We cannot allow the proliferation of armed groups because it is a recipe for disaster in future," he said. "We expressed sadness at the loss of life. In essence if this appeal is heeded, then the DRC will be assured that there will be no armed conflicts in future."

When asked whether the DRC's losing presidential candidate Jean Pierre Bemba had been condemned by SADC in view of the violence that had rocked the DRC, President Kikwete said the regional bloc expressed great disquiet about the matter. And Charamba said the issue of land in Zimbabwe had been the basis of the conflict and that there would never be a day when the Zimbabwean government would surrender it. "And to suggest that there can be a day when we will say here is the land to buy the friendship, that simply will not happen," he said.

Charamba said Zimbabwe wanted the support of SADC in the face of the present package of sanctions. "There is the recognition that Zimbabwe's economy is central. That recognition is not different from the statement of solidarity. That is the solidarity that is badly needed in the face of the present sanctions. It is not anything beyond that, it is simply the recognition that we are under assault and needlessly so. These are illegal sanctions," he said.

Charamba explained that President Mugabe took time to attend the SADC extra-ordinary meeting to accurately explain what was happening in Zimbabwe and move away from the media image that was being portrayed. "He is there to make sure that on the basis of that information he gets the solidarity of SADC in his present fight against the British, against the sanctions," he said.
Asked if Zimbabwe would win the fight against the British, Charamba responded: "That's what makes Mugabe."

On the crackdown on the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Charamba said the opposition party was to blame because they were challenging the authority of the police. He said there were other leaders who were arrested during the rally in Harare's Highfield Grounds but that they were released without any bruises. On the issue of President Mugabe going for another term of office, Charamba said there was a misconception. "The Constitution of Zimbabwe does not have a fixed term of office for the President. One can run for office as long as they are fit to do so and as long as they have the support. What the President has done is to indicate his availability should the party decide that he be the candidate," he said.

When asked what Zimbabwe would do in an event that SADC leaders asked him to step down after the end of President Mugabe's current term, Charamba said that country's presidential elections would never be a SADC issue. "It is the function of the Constitution, the party running in the elections, people and the disposition of the person running for the elections," he said.

On constitutional reforms, Charamba said the process was on-going and that Zimbabwe's Constitution had been amended 17 times so far. He said the only body that had the right to rewrite, amend or change the Constitution was the Parliament of Zimbabwe.

Labels: MUGABE, SADC, ZIMBABWE

posted by MrK @ 6:18 AM