SADC summit may sidestep Zimbabwe

By Tichaona Sibanda
15 August 2005

A leading human rights lawyer in Zimbabwe, Arnolf Tsunga, says it's sad that Heads of State from the Southern African Development Community are succumbing to political pressure not to discuss Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis.The Heads of State are meeting in Gaborone, Botswana this week for a two-day summit, but Tsunga said they expect little action to confront the crisis by the SADC leaders.Tsunga, who is in Gaborone on a lobbying mission to ask the Heads of State to tackle the Zimbabwe crisis, told us on Monday the leaders need an update on what is happening in Zimbabwe.The unfortunate scenario confronting the civic society lobby group from Zimbabwe in Botswana is the unwillingness by SADC delegates to the summit to include the Zimbabwe issue on the agenda.We are here to come up with a common goal, which is to share with fellow SADC NGO's the problems people are facing back home. So much has happened over the couple of months concerning gross human rights abuses in Zimbabwe,' said Tsunga.But he added that it was unfortunate that the SADC summit looks set to sidestep the crisis in Zimbabwe.Zimbabwe government officials are already in Botswana seeking support from the region to exclude discussions centred on the crisis in the country.