In his speech to the summit plenary, Rupiah Banda, President of Zambia, tabled a motion demanding an end to sanctions which affect those nations.
Banda's speech followed an impassioned one backing the same policy earlier in the plenary by host President Hugo Chavez, who said that his Zimbabwean counterpart Robert Mugabe had become the target of an international campaign.
"I wish to give our moral, spiritual and political support to Mugabe and the people of Zimbabwe," Chavez said. "They seek to make Mugabe pay for being anti-colonialist," he added.
In his speech, Mugabe said that Africa's industrial development had "been difficult because of a reliance on the very powers that colonized us," he said. "They do not want really to see us industrialized."
Mugabe has been in power since 1980, but suffered international criticism and sanctions following opposition party claims that his party rigged the 2000 election. The nation suffered hyperinflation during most of this decade, which Mugabe blames for sanctions. Some of these sanctions were lifted after he entered a unity government with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in February.
