Southern African leaders were gathering in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on Wednesday for an extraordinary summit on economic and political regional woes spurred by crises in Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The two-day summit of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC), hosted by Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, comes amid a growing global outcry over turmoil in Zimbabwe that threatens to spill over to its neighbours.
It also takes place after deadly clashes last week in the DRC, between the military and militia loyal to former vice-president and ex-rebel chief Jean Pierre Bemba, which claimed between 200 and 500 lives, according to the German ambassador in Kinshasa.
While Western nations have sharply condemned Mugabe since opposition leaders were arrested and then assaulted ahead of a planned anti-government rally earlier this month, SADC countries have been noticeably more muted in their response, even though they have the most to lose from the fall-out.
Tanzanian officials said SADC chiefs would try to convince Mugabe — reputed for his stubbornness — to meet opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leaders in a bid to dissolve mounting acrimony that threatens the stability of the African nation.
But a former Mugabe ally told Britain’s Guardian newspaper on Wednesday that regional leaders would go further and tell Mugabe that he is dragging Southern Africa down and must retire when his term expires next year.
”They will remind Mugabe that he told them he would retire at the end of this term in 2008. They will tell him he must do that,” said Jonathan Moyo, an information minister until he fell out with Mugabe in 2005 when he decided to contest elections as an independent.
”The statement issued at the close of the summit will not strongly condemn Mugabe, that is not the way SADC works. But I am certain that in the meeting the leaders will have told him in no uncertain terms that he must retire,” said Moyo.
Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party had planned to meet on Wednesday to discuss proposals to extend his term from 2008 until 2010, but put off the meeting until Mugabe’s return from Dar es Salaam.
”I have been to these SADC summits and I know that behind closed doors the leaders are brutally frank,” Moyo told the daily.
”They will tell Mugabe that his rule in Zimbabwe is dragging down the whole Southern African region. They will say Zimbabwe’s economic collapse is negatively affecting all neighbouring countries,” said Moyo.
Apart from the political unrest, an inflation rate of 1 730% and unemployment rate of 80% has led about three million Zimbabweans to emigrate and caused the virtual collapse of an important market for the region.
Heads of state attending the summit, including from South Africa, Zambia and Namibia, are expected to seek to put together a rescue package for Zimbabwe, currently facing acute shortages of survival basics for its impoverished population.
Bilateral meetings were expected to take place as leaders began arriving on Wednesday. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was due to arrive later in the day, and DRC Foreign Minister Antipas Mbusa Nyamwisi was to represent DRC President Joseph Kabila.
Hundreds remember Gift Tandare
Meanwhile, a Zimbabwe opposition activist who was shot dead by the police was hailed on Tuesday as a martyr who died for democracy as hundreds gathered for a memorial service.
Opposition supporters, lawmakers, diplomats and relatives of Gift Tandare gathered for a two-hour service, 15 days after the MDC activist was killed at an aborted anti-government rally.
”Tandare has paid the ultimate price for what we believe in … which is to liberate our country,” said Lovemore Madhuku, a constitutional activist who was beaten along with scores of other opposition supporters when police broke up a prayer rally on March 11.
”We must continue with the struggle for a Zimbabwe we want … we may be asked to pay the ultimate price,” said Madhuku.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, still with a bloodshot eye from the beating more than two weeks ago, started his first public address with a Shona song saying ”no matter how tough it gets … we have an agreement, even if we are murdered we have an agreement” (to continue the struggle).
Tsvangirai told the hundreds of mourners that Mugabe needs psychiatric help and should be forgiven for his acts.
”We don’t hate Mugabe, in fact I think he needs psychiatric help,” he said in his first public address since the assault which saw him hospitalised.
Talking to journalists after the memorial service, Tsvangirai said the assaults had served to unite the formerly fractious opposition.
”You can see that everybody is united and is mobilised and confronting the dictatorship,” he said.
”There is no dictator in this world who has succeeded to oppress the people forever … We cannot dignify an old man who has lost his mind,” he said. — Sapa-AFP