Gaborone | Wednesday
BOTSWANA’S President Festus Mogae has admitted there was not much the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and his country could do should Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe renege on a promise to allow free elections.
”He (Mugabe) is an honourable man and we took his word for it. There is not much we can do,” Mogae told reporters on Tuesday, shortly after arriving home from a one-day summit of southern African leaders in Blantyre, Malawi.
At the end of the summit, Zimbabwe’s neighbours said Mugabe had assured them upcoming elections would be free and fair, despite his continuing crackdown on the opposition.
”If he reneges we will tell him we are not happy. But then he may tell us to go to hell,” the Botswanan president said.
Mogae said his country will continue to cultivate good relations with Zimbabwe, which spans its northeastern border: ”Mugabe is the president of a very powerful and militarily more superior state. We have no ability nor inclination to dictate to him what to do.”
”Our foreign policy shall remain to maintain good relations because there is not much else we can do.”
”Our hope will always be that Mugabe will remain honourable and do as he promises. We can not go to Zimbabwe and tell him and his cabinet what to do. He is a leader of a sovereign state.”
The SADC summit said in a final statement Monday that it ”welcomed the assurances by President Mugabe that the forthcoming presidential elections scheduled for March 9-10, 2002 will be free and fair.”
It also hailed actions Mugabe said Zimbabwe would take, including respecting freedoms of speech and assembly, allowing a wide range of international observers, and investigating political violence.
Mugabe faces his most serious challenge at the polls – after more than two decades in power — from Morgan Tsvangirai, a former Zimbabwean trade union leader and the current head of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. – Sapa