The political crisis in the host country as well as strife in the Indian ocean island of Madagascar will also come up for discussion at the two-day 29th summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
South Africa, which will handover the regional chair to DRC, said in a statement: "The summit will consider the report from the chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation on the political situation in the region, with specific focus on Zimbabwe and Madagascar.
“Furthermore, the summit will reflect on the report of the ministerial task force on regional economic integration, particularly on the impact of the global financial crisis and the region’s response thereto; the status of implementation of the SADC Free Trade Area (FTA); and the proposed SADC Customs Union."
The summit in the DRC comes two weeks after outgoing chairperson South African President Jacob Zuma visited Zimbabwe to discuss the country’s power-sharing deal with President Robert Mugabe, Primer Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Premier Arthur Mutambara.
During the visit Zuma urged Western nations targeted sanctions against Mugabe and top leaders of his ZANU PF party. But the South African President also called on Zimbabwe’s political leaders to "to speed up implementation and to find solutions to disagreements" threatening the six-month-old Harare unity government
Tsvangirai's MDC accuses Mugabe's ZANU PF of failing to honour an agreement to reverse the appointments of political allies to the key posts of central bank governor and attorney general.
On the other hand ZANU PF insists it has done the most to uphold the power-sharing deal and instead accuses the MDC of reneging on promises to campaign for lifting of Western sanctions on Mugabe and his allies.
* Zimonline
