Zambian President Calls for Meeting of Regional Leaders to Address Zimbabwe Crisis
By Daniel Hollingsworth
April 9, 2008

Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa, currently the chairman of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), has called a meeting of the leaders of the 14-nation bloc to address the developing political crisis in Zimbabwe.  The New York Times writes that this move came “after Zimbabwe’s political opposition complained about ‘the deafening silence’ from its African neighbors and warned that the electoral standoff could turn increasingly violent without international intervention.”  It is unclear whether Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe will be among those attending the meeting.

In recent years, leaders in the region have been quiet on the economic disaster and political repression occurring in Zimbabwe.  Even with this forthcoming gathering, the New York Times report maintains that “It [is] hardly clear whether Zimbabwe’s neighbors – many of them with political or fraternal bonds to Mr. Mugabe, 84, an autocrat and liberation hero – could or would do much to defuse one of the most ominous political crises since Zimbabwe waged a regional civil war some 25 years ago.”  In an interview with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Moeletsi Mbeki, a political economist and the deputy chairman of the South African Institute of International Affairs said it was very unlikely that the SADC summit would produce any progress or take any action against Mugabe.  “He said the [Movement for Democratic Change] was not just a threat to ZANU-PF, but also to SADC as it was representative of civil society and most governments in southern Africa were ‘nationalist parties, created by black elites during the colonial era, who saw themselves as colonial equals. They see themselves as superior to the black masses.’”  However, AFP notes that “Mwanawasa has been one of the few regional leaders to publicly voice his concerns about the situation in Zimbabwe, comparing the plight of the country's economy to the sinking of the Titanic.”

The New York Times also reports that the call comes as the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai began a series of his own meetings in neighboring capitals by traveling to Botswana to meet with president Seretse Ian Khama.  “The opposition spokesman, Newlson Chamisa, said that Mr. Tsvangirai would meet with heads of state in many of Zimbabwe’s neighbors ‘to get them to appreciate the magnitude of the crisis in Zimbabwe.’” 

The Christian Science Monitor reports that the Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC) announced on April 9 that it feared a release of the official results from the March 29 vote could result in an outbreak of violence.  Tsvangirai has accused Mugabe of a “de-facto military coup” as he has ordered troops to deploy throughout the country in anticipation of a possible run-off election while still withholding the official results of the first election.  International pressure on Mugabe and the ZEC also increased on April 9, as the United Nations, European Union, Australia, and Jacob Zuma of South Africa all issued calls for the release of the results.

References:

New York Times: Regional Leaders to Meet on Zimbabwe

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Afffairs: Zimbabwe: SADC steps into the fray

AFP: Zambia to host Zimbabwe summit; Mugabe accused of ‘coup’

Christian Science Monitor: Vote results delayed for fear of violence, Zimbabwe says

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