Maravi

(HERALD) Sadc rejects Livingstone doc

Sadc rejects Livingstone doc
Sunday, 12 June 2011 23:06
From Caesar Zvayi in JOHANNESBURG, South Africa

THE Extraordinary Summit of Sadc Heads of State and Government ended here last night with the full summit rejecting the outcome of the controversial Livingstone Troika Summit that was fraught with procedural irregularities. The three-member Troika is an organ of summit and reports to the full 14-member summit which can either endorse or reject the recommendations the Troika makes.

Since the Livingstone Troika Summit, the full Sadc Su-mmit had not convened to receive the report since Zimbabwe was deferred from the agenda of the extraordinary Summit held in Windhoek, Namibia, last month after President Mugabe said he did not want to ambush other principals who had not been invited to Windhoek since the summit was for Heads of State and/or Government per se.

Speaking to journalists after arrival at the Harare International Airport this morning, President Mugabe described the extraordinary summit's outcome as very good.

‘‘It came out very well. There was a very good report by the facilitator (President Jacob Zuma) where he acknowledged the efforts that the GPA is making, in other words what our negotiators and the principals put together are making and that there is progress now, that there is work going on to establish the roadmap, that the highlights of the roadmap have been marked that what remains now are the timelines,'' he said.

Turning to the Livingstone Troika debacle, the President absolved his South African counterpart of any wrongdoing saying the President Zuma had presented a report of what transpired, but basing on the MDC-T document.

‘‘It turns out that his actual report is very innocent. It is more what was discussed based on the document yaTsvangirai, apparently, that emerged as the report ya facilitator otherwise the facilitator made a very innocent report. You will get it if you look for it,'' the President said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi des-cribed the Sandton Summit outcome as very good.

‘‘The Summit went on very well, very, very well. Summit only noted the outcome of Livingstone, they did not endorse, Summit noted. And as you know in diplomatic parlance, you know what ‘noting' means? It was noted, it was not endor-sed,'' he said.

The Livingstone Troika Report was one of two documents that were presented to summit. The other one being the Report on the Outcome of the Sadc Emissaries to the EU and US where they had been sent by the region to lobby for the lifting of the West's illegal economic sanctions regime.

The westerners are reported to have told the Sadc emissaries that there was no agreement on sanctions in Zimbabwe hence they would not lift the sanctions, and Summit was yesterday told that MDC-T was Nichodemously urging westerners to maintain the sanctions regime in flagrant violation of the GPA that says sanctions must go in their entirety.

‘‘Summit reiterated its position on the sanctions and called upon all the parties in Zimbabwe to unequivocally campaign for the lifting of sanctions. Summit also called on the parties to work on the elections roadmap.''

Sadc leaders first called for the lifting of the illegal economic sanctions regime at their extra-ordinary summit held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on March 31, 2007 and pledged to help Zimbabwe fight the illegal embargo. A team of emissaries was then set up at another extra-ordinary Summit held in Mbabane, Swaziland on March 31, 2009 where member states also pledged a rescue package to help Zimbabwe fight the debilitating sanctions.

Though Zanu-PF has been quite vocal about the need to lift the embargo culminating in the launch of the National Anti-Sanctions Petition Campaign in March this year, the MDC formations, particularly MDC-T, has been ambivalent posturing about sanctions by day, and asking that they be maintained by night.

The anti-Sanctions campaign has since surpassed expectations by amassing more than 2.2million signatures countrywide.

Minister Mumbengegwi said the issue of political violence and security sector reforms were not discussed as they were not part of the agenda.

‘‘No that (security sector reforms) never came up, and there is no reason why it should have come up because that is nonsense,'' Minister Mumbengegwi said.

Turning to the election roadmap agreed on by the three parties to the inclusive Government, Minister Mumbengegwi said Summit had called on all the parties to the inclusive Government to expedite the drawing of the roadmap and complete the constitution-making process so that elections can be held as soon as possible.

Zanu-PF has been insisting on elections saying some of its partners in Government were stalling the implementation of government programmes while the MDC formations have been calling for a postponement of polls claiming the environment was not conducive for the holding of free and fair elections.

‘‘No that never came up, and there is no reason why it should come up because that is nonsense,''

Labels: CAESAR ZVAYI, ROBERT MUGABE, SADC, SANCTIONS, SIMBARASHE MUMBENGEGWI, ZDERA

posted by MrK @ 5:57 PM