KK urges Levy, Mugabe to resolve differences

KK urges Levy, Mugabe to resolve differences
By Brighton Phiri
Sunday June 08, 2008 [04:00]

DR KENNETH Kaunda yesterday advised President Levy Mwanawasa and President Robert Mugabe to avoid the verbal war but quickly meet to resolve their differences as the two leaders cannot afford to be at loggerheads. Commenting on the verbal war that has erupted between the Zambian and Zimbabwean governments, Dr Kaunda said the two leaders should stop using their ministers and the media to resolve differences.

“President Mwanawasa and President Mugabe must quickly meet outside the media to discuss whatever difference is there between them and the two countries. Let them guide us,” Dr Kaunda said. “Time has come for our leaders to come together to discuss these matters, not through ministers or chief government spokespersons.”

Dr Kaunda said it was important for President Mwanawasa and President Mugabe to quickly resolve their differences because Zambia and Zimbabwe could not afford to be at loggerheads. He said it was not healthy for the two countries to be embroiled in a protracted verbal war.

The verbal war between the two countries’ leaders triggered off last month after Zimbabwe’s justice minister Patrick Chinamasa attacked President Mwanawasa for his alleged failure as Southern African Development Community (SADC) chairperson to ask Britain and other western countries to lift sanctions against Zimbabwe.

Zambia’s chief government spokesperson Mike Mulongoti charged that Chinamasa’s attacks were seemingly bent on discrediting the integrity of the impeccable office of President Mwanawasa among the international community. He said those verbal attacks had immense potential to negatively affect the existing warm relations between Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Recently, Zimbabwe’s Herald and Chronicle newspapers published articles stating that some SADC heads of state blocked President Mwanawasa from convening a special meeting to review political developments in Zimbabwe prior to the forthcoming presidential runoff at the just-ended Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) summit.

Mulongoti described the media reports as malicious and unfounded. And foreign affairs minister Kabinga Pande said no amount of money would buy President Mwanawasa to go against President Mugabe.

Pande refuted allegations that President Mwanawasa had received money from some Western countries to hold the Lusaka SADC summit and a consultative meeting in Tokyo.
Pande said it was not correct that President Mwanawasa had also threatened to resign as SADC chairperson after his alleged move was blocked by other leaders as reported in the Zimbabwean media.

According to The Herald and Chronicle newspapers, diplomatic sources said President Mwanawasa was blocked from convening the consultative meeting by other regional leaders. The newspapers reported that President Mwanawasa threatened to resign after he was blocked but that SADC leaders described the Zambian President's move as unnecessary and improper because the Zimbabwean issue was being handled by the regional body with South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki as mediator.