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African summit ignores Zimbabwe's woes
Sebastien Berger, The Daily Telegraph (UK)
August 18, 2007

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/18/wzim118.xml

Zimbabwe's neighbours wound up a two-day regional summit yesterday without discussing the turmoil in the country under Robert Mugabe.

The Zambian president, Levy Mwanawasa, who earlier this year described Zimbabwe as a "sinking Titanic", proposed a review of its political and economic crisis but other leaders did not respond positively.

Mr Mugabe had been loudly cheered when the Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit opened on Thursday.

The failure to confront him despite his people's suffering under hyperinflation, poverty and malnutrition was not unexpected, even though the area's leaders regularly stress that the solution to Zimbabwe's problems must be regional.

Zimbabwe's presidential spokesman, George Charamba, said: "There was nothing extraordinary to warrant a discussion on Zimbabwe. SADC nations are mandated to help Zimbabwe and we will not go beyond those parameters."

Mr Mugabe retains a high standing in much of Africa for his role in Zimbabwe's independence struggle. The ruling Zanu-PF party has run an effective propaganda campaign to convince many Africans that Western sanctions are to blame for the country's plight. These are, however, limited to a visa ban and asset freezes on named individuals and have no effect on the economy.

Thabo Mbeki, the South African president, who is mediating between Zanu-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change on SADC's behalf, told his fellow leaders that some progress had been made, but no details were made available.

The Portuguese deputy foreign minister signalled that Mr Mugabe would be invited to an EU-Africa summit in Lisbon in December, despite the sanctions. Portugal had "no intention of discriminating" against Zimbabwe, he said. "It is not up to Portugal, current head of the EU, to invite some people rather than others."

Britain strongly supports the sanctions and a Foreign Office spokesman said: "We want a summit that delivers real results for Africa and we don't want anything to overshadow that agenda, including Robert Mugabe."

The Ministry of Defence is reviewing contingency plans to evacuate Britons from Zimbabwe. Existing plans would advise Britons to drive to South Africa, but the department was considering chartering planes to remove them from the region should it become more volatile.

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