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SADC summit on Zimbabwe set for Sunday in Pretoria
Tichaona Sibanda, SW Radio Africa
November 05, 2008

http://www.swradioafrica.com/news041108/sadc041108.htm

Southern African leaders are set to meet in South Africa on Sunday, hoping to bridge the gap and reach an agreement between the country's political parties. Both Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF and Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC remain worlds apart, even after signing the power-sharing deal on 15th September.

South Africa's Foreign Affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa, told Newsreel in an e-mailed response that they were still in a process of finalising details of the venue.

'As soon as they are finalized we will communicate publicly, hopefully tomorrow morning,' Mamoepa said. However a report from the African News Agency, APA, quotes officials from South Africa saying the summit will be held in Pretoria.

There is some cautious hope that a full SADC summit might get the two sides to agree to put an end to months of conflict and achieve a just and lasting peace. While both sides have publicly pronounced they were committed to honoring the deal, success is still far from guaranteed, given the fundamental historical and political differences between the two warring parties.

Last week Monday, the SADC Troika, a grouping of heads of state from Mozambique, Swaziland and Angola who form the bloc's security committee, failed to secure a breakthrough in talks on the formation of an inclusive government. The summit on Sunday aims to bring together all the leaders of southern Africa to save the power-sharing deal, seen as the best hope for ending months of political turmoil and halting the country's shocking economic collapse.

While ZANU PF contends that only the Home Affairs ministry remained as the sole issue still to be resolved Tendai Biti, secretary-general of the MDC, outlined six outstanding issues to be resolved by the SADC Summit.

He named the six as; the allocation of a number of Ministries; the sharing of provincial governorships in line with the outcome of the 29th March elections; the composition, functions and constitution of the National Security Council; the appointment of Permanent Secretaries and Ambassadors; and the drafting of Constitution Amendment No. 19;

The last issue is to be resolved is about the alterations made to the original agreement. ZANU PF's chief negotiator Patrick Chinamasa made the alterations, without consulting negotiators from the MDC.

MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa confirmed on Tuesday that Tsvangirai would attend the summit, even if the regime continues to refuse to renew his passport. He added that they expected the 15-nation regional grouping to increase pressure on Mugabe.

'Tsvangirai will be going to the meeting, and we hope that the summit will help to break the impasse. SADC has to use its leverage, especially on Mugabe to see sense and to see that people are suffering,' Chamisa said.

The MDC MP told an international news agency that he hoped the Sunday meeting would be the final negotiation to start a new chapter, after months of relentless hardship for most Zimbabweans.

'The people are suffering and we should start acting to make sure we alleviate the problems facing the people. We expect finality and closure to this whole issue. The suspense and anxiety has been excruciatingly painful for Zimbabweans,' Chamisa added.

The protracted political feuding between the two bitter rivals has dimmed any hopes of easing the plight of the people in Zimbabwe. The World Food Programme last week said about five million will need food aid by the end of the year, as the country buckles under the world's highest rate of inflation, estimated at 231 million percent although economists say it is running into the trillions.

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