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Planet Earth to SADC: Is there anybody out there?
Brendan Boyle, The Times (SA)
February 06, 2008

http://blogs.thetimes.co.za/politicallycorrect/2008/02/06/planet-earth-to-sadc-is-there-anybody-out-there/

His Excellency Robert Gabriel Mugabe is about to steal another election, but the Southern African Development Community says all is well and that their soft-spoken envoy, President Thabo Mbeki, has resolved the crisis in Zimbabwe and there remains just one little detail to resolve.You have to wonder whether we live on the same planet, nevermind the same continent.

Here-s what SADC said yesterday on Zimbabwe:

H.E. President Thabo Mbeki briefed the meeting on the following developments:

1. The Zimbabwe ruling party, ZANU-PF, and the opposition MDC have reached agreement on all substantive matters relating to the political situation in Zimbabwe, which the ruling party and the opposition had placed on their negotiations agenda, as follows:

• The Constitution
• Electoral laws
• Security legislation, in particular the Public Order and Security Act (POSA)
• Communication legislation, in particular the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Broadcasting Services Act
• Matters relating to the political climate in Zimbabwe, such as the land question, sanctions, politically motivated violence, external interference in Zimbabwe.

2. The most urgent of these, including constitutional and statutory changes, have already been put into effect through constitutional and legal amendments approved by the Parliament of Zimbabwe, to which the President of the Republic has assented.

3. The only outstanding matter relates to the procedure to be followed in enacting the agreed draft Constitution.

4. The Summit welcomed the good progress made by the Zimbabwe Negotiating Parties and congratulated them for successfully concluding their negotiations.

5. Summit congratulated and thanked the SADC Facilitator, President Mbeki and his Facilitation Team, for the role they had played in helping to achieve this outcome and asked President Mbeki to continue in his role as Facilitator on Zimbabwe, to help the Zimbabwe parties to conclude the outstanding "procedural" matter of the enactment of the agreed Draft Constitution.

6. The Summit Meeting called on the Zimbabwe parties to continue their dialogue to resolve this issue."

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