SADC Ministers Meet Mugabe Over Presidential Election Run-off

A Southern African Development Community (SADC) ministerial committee Wednesday met Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe as diplomatic efforts intensified to save the country from plunging into deeper political crisis, APA has learned.

The four-member SADC committee was headed by Angolan Foreign Minister, Joao Bernardo de Miranda, and comprised SADC executive secretary, Tomaz Augusto Salomao, Swaziland’s Foreign Minister Martin Dhlamini and a Tanzanian government official.

Angola chairs the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation which is the arm of the regional organization that deals with southern African trouble spots.

“Our brief is to assess the political situation in Zimbabwe and to ensure the environment is conducive for holding the presidential election run-off,” Salomao told journalists in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare.

The opposition and human rights groups have raised concern over what they see as reprisal attacks against President Robert Mugabe’s opponents by ruling party activists.

The SADC ministerial committee could not meet opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai who has been out of the country since last month fearing for his life.

It also met officials from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) which is in charge of running elections in the country.

A second round presidential contest in expected after both Tsvangirai and Mugabe failed to garner more than 50 percent of votes in the first round polls held on March 29.

Salomao said his committee was assured by ZEC that the run-off date would be announced as soon as logistical and technical issues for the elections are addressed.

Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change party has indicated that it would only announce whether it would participate in the run-off once a date has been set.

Source African Press Agency

Net News Publisher