SADC Leaders Unhappy With Pace of Zimbabwe Talks

(Bloomberg) -- Southern African leaders are unhappy with the slow pace of negotiations aimed at ending the political crisis in Zimbabwe, a regional defense and security committee official said.




The 15-nation Southern African Development Community brokered an accord in February 2008 that resulted in Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai forming a unity government.



Since then, Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change has accused Mugabe of violating terms of the agreement. Tsvangirai temporarily withdrew his party from the coalition on Oct. 16. He reversed his decision on Nov. 6 following talks mediated by SADC to resolve outstanding issues, including the appointment of the country’s central bank governor and attorney general.



“With regards to the pace of negotiations and the pace of events, nobody is happy,” Oldemiro Baloi, chairman of SADC’s politics, defense and security committee, said in an interview yesterday in Maputo, the Mozambican capital. “We want the talks to conclude as soon as possible.”



The MDC has demanded that Mugabe fire central bank Governor Gideon Gono and Attorney General Johannes Tomana, saying their appointments were unconstitutional. The party has also called for a joint military, police and intelligence committee to hold regular meetings, and an end to what it describes as police harassment of its members.



Last month, Agence France-Presse reported that Mugabe and Tsvangirai agreed to appoint commissioners to oversee changes to media, electoral and human-rights policies.



The February accord brokered by SADC was aimed at ending a decade of political instability and economic decline in Zimbabwe that slashed exports and pushed inflation to a record.



SADC leaders met in Mozambique yesterday to discuss issues in Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho and Madagascar. The meeting also endorsed the nomination of Malawian President Bingu was Mutharika as successor to Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi as the head of the African Union, Baloi said, without providing further details.



To contact the reporter on this story: Fred Katerere in Maputo via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.