SADC Troika to Discuss Madagascar, Zimbabwe

30 March 2011

Livingstone — The Zambian resort of Livingstone will be the stage on Thursday for a meeting of the troika of the SADC (Southern African Development Community) Organ on Defence, Security and Political Cooperation, expected to discuss in particular the crises in Madagascar and Zimbabwe.

Zambian President Rupiah Banda is the current chair of the troika, and the other two members are the Mozambican and South African presidents, Armando Guebuza and Jacob Zuma.

Zuma is expected to deliver a detailed report on the situation in Zimbabwe in his capacity as the SADC facilitator in that country, who has been attempting to keep alive the Global Political Agreement signed between the ruling ZANU-PF, and the two factions of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Also present will be former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano, who is the SADC mediator on the Madagascar crisis, which erupted when the Mayor of Antananarivo, Andre Rajoelina, seized power in a coup d’etat in March 2009. Rajoelina has failed to honour the agreements mediated by Chissano at meetings held in Maputo and Addis Ababa. As a result Madagascar remains suspended from both SADC and the African Union.

The main political actors in Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe, and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who are also the leaders of ZANU-PF and of the main faction of the MDC, have been invited to attend

Speaking to Mozambican journalists in Livingstone, the SADC Executive Secretary, Tomas Salomao, said that those in power in Madagascar, now and in the past, should be the first to understand that the most important thing is to bring Madagascar back to its place in the concert of nations.

“The meeting will hear about the current developments”, said Salomao. “But everything indicates that the final goal is to bring the country to elections”.

There exists a road map to elections, agreed to by Rajoelina, the man he overthrew, Marc Ravalomanana, and two previous presidents, Didier Ratsiraka and Albert Zafy. Prior to the holding of credible elections, there should be a transitional government and parliaments – but to date Rajoelina has prevented the establishment of these bodies.

As for Zimbabwe, Salomao stressed the importance of continuing to implement the Global Political Agreement (GPA). This envisages, among many other matters, a referendum on a new constitution, Only after this can elections be held.

This is far from the only problem. In defiance of the GPA, Mugabe unilaterally appointed the governor of the central bank, Gideon Gono, the man largely responsible for the hyper-inflation prior to the GPA which destroyed the Zimbabwe dollar, and the Attorney-General Johannes Timana. The MDC has repeatedly denounced these unilateral appointments.

Nonetheless, despite these and other problems, Salomao thought it unlikely that there would be any return to the violence of 2008. He stressed that it is the desire of both SADC and the African Union that Zimbabwe should not slip back into violence.

“Zimbabwe is not the same as it was two years ago”, said Salomao. “It’s true that there are divergences, but there are also convergences”.

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