COMESA summit is hasty show of support for Zim government

By Alex Bell
02 October 2008

The Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) has given Zimbabwe a second chance to hold the regional bloc’s 13th summit, in what would appear to be a hasty show of confidence in the country as a result of the power sharing deal.

The summit had been initially set to take place in May but was called off after state-sponsored violence swept through the country, following Robert Mugabe’s election loss to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in the first round of voting in March. In postponing the summit at the peak of political violence, COMESA had said it was doing so to give Zimbabwe time to conclude its electoral processes.

Zimbabwe was once a major player in COMESA, before its economy collapsed over the past decade. The power-sharing deal signed by Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara has been dubbed as the best opportunity for Zimbabwe to end the combined crises in the country that has seen the world’s highest inflation, desperate shortages of food and fears of a looming health disaster.

But despite a clear lack of change on the ground since the deal was signed, as well as a deadlock over the distribution of cabinet ministries, international trade ministry officials announced on Thursday that the summit of the 20 nation bloc will take place at the end of November.

Harare based journalist Angus Shaw told Newsreel on Thursday he is “surprised” by COMESA’s decision to hold the summit, so soon after canceling the event in May. Shaw agreed that the decision is a hasty show of support and added it is clear that regional blocs such as SADC, the African Union and COMESA are listening to political spin by ZANU PF. “On the ground there is a serious crisis,” Shaw explained, “and I don’t know if COMESA even knows about the cabinet deadlock.”