The Southern African Development Community (SADC) delegation that wasin Zimbabwe to consult with members of the national unity governmentwill recommend the convening of an extraordinary summit soon.
The visit toHarare by the SADC troika on Security, Defense and Politics wasostensibly to access the progress of the implementation of the GlobalPolitical Agreement or GPA, the deal that brought about Zimbabwe'snational unity government.
But observers say it was prompted by PrimeMinister Morgan Tsvangirai's partial withdrawal from the governmentearlier this month citing President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party'sfailure to comply with the GPA. Mr. Tsvangirai is the leader of theMovement for Democratic Change (MDC) party.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe (r) meets with head of the Southern African Development Communinty delegation Oldermiro Baloi (l) in Harare, Zimbabwe, 30 Oct 2009After consultingwith all three parties that make up the national unity government,delegation head Oldemiro Baloi, the Mozambican Foreign Minister, toldthe media.
"SADC will continue its efforts to support, to helpZimbabweans helping themselves by this troika finishing as soon aspossible, I mean very urgently, the report we are supposed to preparesend it to the chairman of the troika and to do our best to convene asummit of the troika as soon as possible," he said.
However, Baloi would not say exactly when the summit would be held.
Baloisaid while it was clear the national unity government had brought aboutpositive change in Zimbabwe, it faced some hurdles.
"Those thatare mentioned more frequently are the issue of the reserve bankgovernor, the attorney general, the governors and sanctions, mediareform," he said. "There is a commission that should have been set up,the media, commission, it's taking long because if it was in place itwas supposed to deal with whatever issues related to media complaints."
TheMDC has a long list of complaints it alleges are non-fulfillment of theGlobal Political Agreement and wants resolved before it can participatefully in government. Mr. Tsvangirai, however, hinted at compromise whenhe spoke to the media after the troika visited him at his offices.
"Wehave to find a solution to the crisis and that's the whole objective,"he said. "If we can get the inclusive government working again and ifall the GPA issues are resolved or partially resolved depending on whatthe summit will deal with then we are able to push the country forward,that's the most important objective."
Mr. Mugabe is quoted bythe state-controlled media as dismissing the perception that theconvening of the summit was a victory for the MDC as propaganda andcheap politicking.
But speaking at the burial of a veteran ofZimbabwe's war of independence Saturday he said talks between theparties would continue.
Movement for Democratic Changespokesman Nelson Chamisa told VOA his party would not attend Tuesday'sweekly cabinet meeting, the third such meeting it has boycotted, untilthe issues that brought about the disengagement are addressed.
