SADC calls for end to Zimbabwe violence

By James Mombe

LIVINGSTONE – Southern Africa leaders late on Thursday night called for an end to political violence in Zimbabwe but showed no indication the regional grouping was ready to step in to end squabbling between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

The security organ of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) closed its summit with a statement critical of the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe, where a power–sharing agreement between Mugabe and Tsvangirai is unraveling and political violence is on the rise, amid calls for elections to choose a new government to replace the two rivals’ coalition.

“The summit noted with grave concern the polarisation of the political environment as characterised by inter alia, resurgence of violence, arrest and intimidation in Zimbabwe,” the organ said in an unusually strongly worded statement said.

“There must be an immediate end of violence, intimidation, hate speech, harassment, and any other form of action that contradicts the letter and spirit of the GPA (global political agreement),” it said.??

The organ called on the Zimbabwean parties to speed up implementation of the GPA, the power-sharing agreement that gave birth to the Harare unity government and which calls for the enactment of a new and democratic constitution that should lead to new free and fair elections.

Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party are pushing for elections this year even without a referendum on a new constitution expected in September, which has seen Tsvangirai warning of a boycott if his coalition partners unilateral call for parliamentary and presidential elections.

Tsvangirai, who agreed to join Mugabe in government of national unity in 2009 after inconclusive polls the year before, has repeatedly urged SADC to craft a “road map” that will set benchmarks for credible free and fair elections to end the tenure of the coalition, while avoiding the bloodbath of 2008 when more than 200 opposition members were killed in political violence.

Both Tsvangirai and Mugabe attended the summit in the Zambian resort town of Livingstone, near Victoria Falls, with each holding separate meetings with the regional organ comprising the leaders of Zambia, Mozambique and Namibia also discussed political developments in Swaziland, Lesotho and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

South African President Jacob Zuma who is the facilitator in Zimbabwe’s political dialogue attended the summit and tabled a report on Zimbabwe. The statement issued by the SADC organ captured most of the concerns voiced by Tsvangirai, who says Mugabe’s allies in the security forces have intensified a cracking down on his MDC party ahead of new elections expected later this year.

But it remains to be seen whether this signal a shift in approach by the bloc that in the past has been accused in the past of being too soft on Mugabe, a hero of the anti-colonial struggle and southern Africa’s most senior leader. The SADC summit also reviewed political crisis in Madagascar where former president Marc Ravalomanana was forced from power two years ago by strongman Andry Rajoelina in a military-backed ouster.– ZimOnline