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SADC muzzles civic groups on Zimbabwe
ZimOnline
August 17, 2005

http://www.zimonline.co.za/headdetail.asp?ID=10390

GABORONE – The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has barred regional civic society groups from raising Zimbabwe 's crisis at the organisation's heads of state annual summit beginning in Gaborone today.

The SADC Council of Non-governmental Ogarnisations had wanted to present a communiqué to the summit on the deteriorating human rights situation, political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe , a move that would have forced SADC leaders to discuss President Robert Mugabe's controversial rule.

But the council was told by organisers of the summit that laid down protocol and procedure did not allow it to address the SADC summit on the Zimbabwe situation.

"The time to discuss ( Zimbabwe at the summit) is there but there is no political will from the SADC leadership," Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights chairwoman Nokuthula Moyo told ZimOnline. Moyo is heading civic society groups from Zimbabwe at the summit.

SADC leaders, long accused of standing by in the face of gross human rights violations by Mugabe and his government, have omitted Zimbabwe from the summit's agenda arguing their summit discusses "regional situations" and not individual countries.

The executive secretary of the 13-member SADC Prega Ramsamy told the Press: "There is no agenda on Zimbabwe. We discuss regional situations not individual countries."

Botswana President Festus Mogae, who takes on SADC's revolving chairmanship today, also told the Press that Zimbabwe did not pose a problem to economic growth in the region, even though its problems have weakened the economy of his own country.

Moyo said civic society groups were still exploring other ways to try and bring the Zimbabwe situation to the attention of the summit, adding only a more direct and robust intervention by SADC leaders could help pave way for a solution to that country's six-year economic and political crisis.

Political analysts say Mugabe's SADC neighbours particularly economic powerhouse, South Africa could, if they so wished, pressure the Zimbabwean leader to abandon his controversial policies and to engage the opposition to find a democratic solution to his country's problems.

But SADC has always shied from confronting the veteran Zimbabwean leader. - ZimOnline

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