Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) Mugabe, Sadc to call for end to sanctions

Mugabe, Sadc to call for end to sanctions
Nancy Pasipanodya
Mon, 07 Sep 2009 11:37:00 +0000

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe is in the Democratic Republic of Congo to attend the 29th Southern African Development Community (Sadc) summit, where he will call for an end to illegal sanctions imposed by the West on Zimbabwe.

He left Harare yesterday for the DRC capital Kinshasa, where he joins other Sadc leaders for the meeting.

President Mugabe was seen off at the Harare International Airport by vice president Joice Mujuru, senior government ministers, service chiefs and senior government officials.

The summit which begins today and runs until tomorrow will focus on hot spots in the region such as Madagascar, the DRC, among others.

President Mugabe is expected to speak against the continued illegal sanctions against Zimbabwe and how they are threatening the survival of the Global Political Agreement (GPA).

African leaders will step up calls for an end to illegal Western sanctions against Zimbabwe and will urge South Africa to plead Zimbabwe’s cause within the Group of 20 industrial and emerging nations, officials said.

“We are convinced that if sanctions are lifted, Zimbabwe, within the framework of its current political agreement, will have the possibility to move toward development,” said Foreign Minister Alexis Thambwe Mwamba of Congo.

“We will also ask South Africa, which is the only sub-Saharan African country that is a member of the G20, to plead for Zimbabwe’s cause,” said Mwamba, whose country is taking over the chairmanship of the development community and is hosting its summit meeting in Kinshasa starting Monday.

President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, on his recent visit to Zimbabwe, called on the West to repeal the sanctions.

South African president Jacob Zuma who is the current chairman of SADC will handover the chairmanship of the regional body to DRC president Joseph Kabila.

Meanwhile, vice president Mujuru is the acting president.

Labels: MUGABE, SADC, SANCTIONS, ZDERA

posted by MrK @ 4:22 PM