The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is to produce a report by the end of the month on Zimbabwe’s economic and political crises, reports said on Friday.
”By the end of June, we must have a report ready for the relevant authorities,” the state-run Herald quoted SADC secretary general Tomaz Augusto Salamao as saying.
”We are here to continue what we have started already — that is doing our assessment and research and come up with a recommendation that we will forward to the relevant authority.”
Salamao is leading a team from the regional bloc on a follow-up mission to find a solution to the problems of Zimbabwe, which has witnessed widespread political violence and is struggling under the impact of an inflation rate above the 3 500% mark.
The SADC secretariat was tasked at a summit in March to study ways and means through which the regional trading bloc could assist in the economic recovery of Zimbabwe.
Regional leaders at the summit in Dar es Salaam called on Western nations to lift a programme of targeted sanctions imposed on President Robert Mugabe’s government.
SADC also tasked South African President Thabo Mbeki with mediating between the Mugabe regime and the opposition in the countdown to elections due next year.
In April Salamao came to Zimbabwe and held meetings with Mugabe, government officials and various representatives of multilateral agencies.
The next SADC summit will be held in Zambia in August and Zimbabwe is expected to dominate the agenda. — Sapa-AFP