President Thabo Mbeki, his Nigerian counterpart Olusegun Obasanjo and Australian Prime Minister John Howard are to meet in Abuja, Nigeria, on Monday to review the situation in Zimbabwe, the Foreign Affairs Department said on Wednesday.
”The meeting is meant to create an opportunity for the leaders to review progress made in resolving the situation in Zimbabwe,” presidential aide David Hlabane said.
The leaders of the three countries have been tasked by the Commonwealth with monitoring Zimbabwe.
French news agency AFP at the weekend reported that Howard, chairman of the Commonwealth, called the meeting to discuss further action against Zimbabwe.
He said President Robert Mugabe’s government — accused of electoral corruption and human rights abuses — had not carried out reforms and was ”indifferent to international opinion”.
”I’m going there to talk to President Mbeki and President Obasanjo about Zimbabwe’s continued lack of response to the requests legitimately made of her six months ago when we met in London and suspended the country from the councils of the Commonwealth for a year,” Howard was quoted as saying.
”Zimbabwe has been quite indifferent to the requests properly made of her by the Commonwealth and we want to talk about what might further be done in relation to that.”
Hlabane on Wednesday declined to elaborate on the meeting’s agenda. – Sapa