Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) Sadc summit on Zimbabwe set for Sunday

Sadc summit on Zimbabwe set for Sunday
Zim Guardian/DPA
Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:50:00 +0000

AN extraordinary summit of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) to discuss the impasse in Zimbabwe's power-sharing negotiations will be held on this weekend in South Africa, the country’s department of foreign affairs confirmed Tuesday.

"It (the summit) will be held Sunday (Nov. 9) in South Africa," foreign affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Asked if all 15 Sadc members would be attending, Mamoepa said, "As far as we are aware, yes."

On the Zimbabwean side, "I'm sure all the political parties that are involved in the negotiations will be invited - (President Robert Mugabe's) Zanu PF and the two (Movement for Democratic Change) MDC formations," he said.

The venue for the summit was still being finalized.

The summit is being held at the behest of prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC, which had demanded all Sadc members meet to try to resolve the seven-week impasse between Zanu-PF and Tsvangirai's MDC on the make-up of a unity government.

President Mugabe, Tsvangirai and the leader of a breakaway MDC faction, Arthur Mutambara, signed an historic deal on September 15 to try to end the country's nearly decade-long political and economic crises by sharing power.

But the deal has since foundered on the huge mistrust between Zanu-PF and the MDC, particularly on the issue of who should control the Ministry of Home Affairs.

A troika Sadc summit in Harare recently failed to break the deadlock.

Zim Guardian/DPA

Labels: SADC, ZIMBABWE

posted by MrK @ 3:45 AM