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(HERALD) Brown consults Mbeki over Zimbabwe

Brown consults Mbeki over Zimbabwe
News Editor

NEW British Prime Minister Mr Gordon Brown has consulted South African President Thabo Mbeki over the Zimbabwean issue, the House of Lords heard last week. Baroness Royall of Blaisdon told the upper house of the British parliament last Thursday that Mr Brown contacted Mr Mbeki a week ago over Zimbabwe without giving details. She said London had also inquired about Harare from five other Sadc states.

"On 6 July the Prime Minister spoke to President Mbeki of South Africa about Zimbabwe. In recent weeks Zimbabwe has been raised at ministerial or presidential level with Zambia, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Botswana and South Africa," she said.

She was responding to Lord Blaker, who had asked whether the British government would consult Sadc member states "on the case for political reform in Zimbabwe".

Mr Mbeki was mandated by Sadc leaders to mediate between the Government and opposition MDC as part of a regional initiative to help Zimbabwe solve its socio-economic challenges.

At an extraordinary summit in Tanzania in March this year, Sadc leaders condemned the illegal Western sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe and called for their lifting.

They also implored upon Britain to fulfil its obligation to fund land reforms in Zimbabwe as per the Lancaster House agreement.

Sadc leaders tasked the grouping’s secretariat to study the economic situation in Zimbabwe and craft a package to help Harare overcome the illegal economic embargo.

President Mugabe has said he hopes Mr Brown — who took over as British prime minister from Mr Tony Blair on June 27 — would help mend relations between Zimbabwe and Britain.

Cde Mugabe said he hoped Mr Brown’s government would have a relook of London’s policy on Zimbabwe and work to improve relations strained over the land reforms.

"Well, he (Mr Blair) is gone. We hope that those who come after him will look at Zimbabwe and the past policy and try to improve that past," President Mugabe said while addressing mourners at the burial of national hero Brigadier-General Armstrong Paul Gunda in Harare last month.

Labels: GORDON BROWN, MUGABE, THABO MBEKI, THE HERALD

posted by MrK @ 10:23 AM