SADC chief says Zim should not be discussed at EU-Africa summit

By Lance Guma
28 November 2007

The Executive Director of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Dr Tomaz Salomao has vowed to shield Zimbabwe from being discussed at the EU-Africa summit in December. Preparations for the summit have been dogged by heated debate over whether Robert Mugabe should be allowed to attend in light of his country’s poor human rights record and other abuses. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and several other leaders from European countries have indicated they will boycott the summit if he attends. In response many African countries have threatened to boycott, should Mugabe be barred. The 83 year old is thought to be revelling in the controversy and has indicated he will attend the meeting.

Salomao who heads the SADC grouping said the summit was about Africa’s relationship with Europe and not Zimbabwe. He however seemed to contradict himself by saying ‘sanctions’ were damaging the Zimbabwean economy and needed to be lifted. ‘They prefer to call them targeted sanctions, but for us they are sanctions and our approach has been to have them lifted," he said. One analyst said this made it obvious Zimbabwe was a key issue that needed sorting out between Europe and Africa. Most African countries have chosen to support Mugabe on the basis of a racial approach to the crisis, while Western countries have put the focus on human rights abuses.

If the Zimbabwean regime has nothing to hide, it is also not clear why SADC officials should be going to extraordinary lengths to prevent discussion on the country. One group who have decided to express their disapproval of Mugabe’s attendance is the Zimbabwe Vigil, based in the United Kingdom. Coordinator Rose Benton confirmed to Newsreel that over 30 of their members will travel to Portugal next week to hold demonstrations against Mugabe. Benton said EU-travel restrictions on Mugabe and his cronies were there for a reason and should not be relaxed just to accommodate Mugabe at the summit. She slammed the brotherhood of African leaders who support each other at the expense of ordinary citizens in their countries.

Only one EU-Africa summit has been held so far and that was 7 years ago. The last summit organised for 2003 collapsed over a similar dispute involving Mugabe’s attendance.