Khama to miss another summit on Zim

By Fortune Tazvida

Botswana’s President Ian Khama will for the second year running miss a crucial SADC summit that is meant to resolve the political impasse in Zimbabwe.

Khama the only regional leader to speak strongly against President Mugabe leaves for Washington on Tuesday to attend the Conservation International board of directors meeting.

Reports say Khama will meet US President Barack Obama on Thursday. Botswana Foreign Affairs Minister Phandu Skelemani could not confirm what Khama and Obama will discuss.

“The meeting has no agenda as such. The two presidents will meet and we will put forward the challenges facing our country that we think Americans could help us address,” Skelemani said.

Skelemani said the Zimbabwean crisis might be mentioned in passing but it would be unprofessional to take the matter to the US since SADC was dealing with the matter.

Mozambique will host a regional summit on Zimbabwe on Thursday in the hope of breaking a deadlock that threatens the fragile unity government.

Mozambique currently heads SADC’s security organ, which sent a delegation to Harare last week to mediate between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the former opposition leader who joined the government in February.

Last year Khama at almost the same did not attend an extraordinary SADC Summit on Zimbabwe held in South Africa.