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(HERALD) Don't be misled - Govt

Don't be misled - Govt
Thursday, 16 June 2011 02:00
By Tendai Mugabe

THE Extraordinary Sadc Summit held in South Africa at the weekend did not endorse the outcome of the disputed Livingstone Troika meeting, Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, has said.

The two MDC formations and some sections of the private media have been trying to mislead the nation by claiming that the summit endorsed the Livingstone, Zambia, Troika report.

Speaking to journalists after briefing ambassadors of Non Aligned Movement member-states, Sadc, Russia and China on the outcome of the Sadc summit at his Munhumutapa offices yesterday, Minister

Mumbengegwi emphasised that the Livingstone report was only noted since it was based on one report done by MDC-T.

"We have just returned from the Sadc extraordinary summit, which discussed the situation in Zimbabwe and Madagascar.

"We thought it was important to brief African and Non Aligned Movement diplomats on the outcome of the summit.

"We realised that going by what various media houses are saying is very difficult for someone who was not there to decipher what actually transpired.

"We briefed them on the deliberations on the question of the Livingstone Troika Summit where the summit decided to take note of that report and not to endorse it.

"We did indicate that the summit at Sandton went on extremely well.
"The facilitator gave an excellent report giving details of the work done by our negotiators and the facilitation team," he said.
Minister Mumbengegwi's remarks put to rest confusion that was being created by other parties following the Sandton Su-mmit.

He said South African President Jacob Zuma's report focused on the evaluation and assessment done on the GPA, particularly on the need to expedite the process leading to fresh elections.

Minister Mumbengegwi said another document that was tabled before the summit was a report from a delegation of senior members from the Sadc member-states that went to Europe to lobby for the removal of illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe.

He said the team returned empty-handed after European capitals insisted that there was still no sufficient progress on the implementation of the GPA that warrants the lifting of the embargo.

This, he said, was despite the fact that major progress was made on implementing the GPA with the only sticking issue being the removal of the illegal sanctions.

"The summit also received a report from senior officials who visited Brussels as Sadc representatives have been sent by Sadc to ask those countries to lift the sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.

"Of course, they did not bring much because the three capitals - Washington, London and Brussels - simply indicated that they were not in a position to lift the sanctions claiming that insufficient prog-ress has been made in the implementation of the GPA.

"But anyone who is familiar with the GPA knows that virtually all the important matters in the GPA have now been achie- ved.

"The only outstanding issue is the writing of the new constitution, which is work in progress, and the question of sanctions," he said.

Minister Mumbengegwi indicated that the completion of the new constitution was the only barometer that could measure as to when elections would be held.

Labels: SADC, SIMBARASHE MUMBENGEGWI

posted by MrK @ 5:42 AM