Southern African leaders on Thursday began an emergency summit to discuss the deepening crisis in Zimbabwe.
Host Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, who met with Robert Mugabe after his arrival on Wednesday night, said the meeting of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) would not put pressure on the embattled Zimbabwean president.
”Pressure? We are in a meeting, not pressure,” Kikwete told reporters.
Leaders gathered for the SADC meeting on Wednesday as Zimbabwean police raided the headquarters of the main opposition party, increasing calls for the summit to speak out against the Zimbabwean leader.
Three SADC countries currently charged with dealing with Zimbabwe — Tanzania, Namibia and Angola — met behind closed doors late on Wednesday.
South African President Thabo Mbeki on Thursday held bilateral talks with President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Joseph Kabila before the summit began.
The summit was expected to address the situation in the DRC after deadly clashes last week 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.
”Mbeki and Kabila met and discussed the violence in Kinshasa. Whatever they agreed on will be presented to the heads of states,” a Congolese government official told Agence France-Presse.
Bemba is currently staying at the South African embassy in Kinshasa.
The 14-nation SADC is aimed at promoting development and democracy in the region.
The raids in Zimbabwe on opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) headquarters on Tuesday and Wednesday during which 35 people were arrested — part of an investigation into several recent firebombings that the police have blamed on the MDC — have increased pressure on regional leaders.
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 more muted in their response, even though they have most to lose from the fall-out.
Apart from the political unrest, an inflation rate of 1 730% and unemployment of 80% have led about three million Zimbabweans to emigrate and caused the virtual collapse of an important market for the region.
Tanzanian officials said SADC chiefs would try to convince Mugabe to meet the opposition MDC leaders in a bid to dissolve mounting acrimony that threatens the stability of the African nation.
Amnesty International called on regional governments to put pressure on Mugabe’s regime to end its harassment and intimidation of opposition activists.
”SADC leaders meeting in Tanzania must now send an unequivocal message to the government of Zimbabwe that human rights violations in that country will no longer be tolerated,” said Kolawole Olaniyan, the director of Amnesty’s Africa programme.
Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party plans to announce on Friday, after the president’s return from Dar es Salaam, whether it will support extending his term until 2010 to hold simultaneous presidential and parliamentary elections.
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba, Mozambique’s President Armando Emilio Guebuza, Lesotho’s Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili, Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika and Botswana Vice-President Seretse Khama Ian Khama are also taking part in the talks in Dar es Salaam. — Sapa-AFP