Three African trade blocs plan to harmonise trade policies so Africa can compete more effectively on world markets. Erastus Mwencha, secretary general of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, said on Thursday his group would be meeting the East African Community and Southern African Development Community later this year.
A report by six former South African National Defence Force generals might lead to action being taken to address the violence in Zimbabwe, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad said on Wednesday. He said President Thabo Mbeki was waiting for a report from the generals on the violence before considering appropriate action.
Conditions are neither safe nor fair yet for a run-off election in Zimbabwe in which the opposition hopes to unseat President Robert Mugabe, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) said on Wednesday. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is to face Mugabe in the second round after failing to secure an absolute majority in a disputed poll.
Opposition parties on Monday criticised President Thabo Mbeki’s assessment of Zimbabwe’s elections. Mbeki’s remarks, made in Britain on Sunday, indicated he was either woefully out of touch with reality in Zimbabwe or he was attempting to ”deliberately mislead the world’s media”, the Democratic Alliance’s Dianne Kohler-Barnard said.
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/ 14 December 2007
A court ruled on Thursday in favour of a white Zimbabwean farmer fighting a last-ditch bid against seizure of his land by his government. The case, which was the first to be tried by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) tribunal, was considered a test of the bloc’s commitment to justice and democracy.
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/ 28 November 2007
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade will fly to Zimbabwe on Wednesday for talks with President Robert Mugabe in an attempt to resolve a row between Harare and London that threatens to derail a European Union-Africa summit next month. Wade will fly to Zimbabwe after British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Tuesday he would boycott the planned December 8 to 9 summit in Lisbon.
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/ 26 September 2007
President Robert Mugabe’s attempts to control prices amid Zimbabwe’s worsening economic crisis have backfired and now even the black market faces shortages, a senior British diplomatic source said on Wednesday. Under Mugabe’s 27-year rule, Zimbabwe has plunged from prosperity to penury.