SADC won't attend EU/AU summit without Mugabe - Levy Mwanawasa!

By Brighton Phiri

Friday September 21, 2007 [04:01]



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SOUTHERN Africa Development Community (SADC) countries will boycott the forthcoming European Union (EU)/African Union (AU) summit if Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is not allowed to attend, President Mwanawasa declared yesterday.

Speaking before departure for New York, where he was scheduled to attend the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, President Mwanawasa said blocking President Mugabe from attending the EU/AU summit scheduled for Lisbon, Portugal in December, would not help resolve the problems in Zimbabwe.

“So if Great Britain will not attend the Portugal summit because President Mugabe will be there that is very unfortunate as far as this region is concerned.

And I must say that in that case, the EU/AU summit hangs in the balance. I don’t know how some of us will be prepared to go to Portugal without President Mugabe,” President Mwanawasa said.

“I will not go to Portugal if Mugabe is not allowed. That is not to say I agree and I am happy with the situation in Zimbabwe. But I feel that there is need to continue dialoguing with our colleagues in Zimbabwe. If Robert Mugabe is not allowed, then the whole basis of dialogue is removed. As far as I concerned, that includes even failing to go.”

President Mwanawasa said it was important for British Prime minister Gordon Brown to meet President Mugabe in the interest of dialogue in order to find a lasting solution to Zimbabwwe’s crisis.

“As SADC chairperson and also as Zambian President, I have always said that dialogue is important to resolve any problem. You cannot resolve problems unless you discuss and meet the person whom you perceive as the wrong doer,” he said. “From that premise it is very clear that those with a born to chew with President Mugabe have to agree to meet him. If they don’t agree to meet him then the solution will not be found.”

President Mwanawasa disclosed that he would hold meetings with members of the private sector and other heads of state while in New York.

President Mwanawasa said he would seize the opportunity to woo some investors to Zambia.

“In addition to the UN General Assembly, there will be several meetings which I will attend. I look forward to these meetings because I have the chance to meet the private sector, to woo investors to Zambia,” President Mwanawasa said.

“I will also be meeting with the Clinton Global Foundation. I will also hold some meetings with my fellow heads of state during which we will discuss matters of mutual interest.”

On former foreign affairs minister Mundia Sikatana’s statement that he was not interested to hold on to the position of nominated member of parliament and that he was fit, President Mwanawasa said he was convinced that Sikatana was not fit to serve in government before taking his decision.

“I did what I did because I was convinced of what I said. I am glad to learn from Sikatana’s statement that he is fit...fit indeed to contest as Republican president. But during the time of my discussion with him, I had explained to him in great detail the basis of my contention that he was not well,” President Mwanawasa said.

“Mundia is a great friend of mine. It pained me that I had to ask him to leave. As you know I have nominated him as MP twice.”

President Mwanawasa was accompanied by foreign affairs minister Kabinga Pande, science and technology minister Peter Daka, agriculture minister Ben Kapita and several other senior government officials.

According to a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) report yesterday, Prime Minister Gordon Brown had said he would boycott a summit of European and African leaders if President Mugabe attends the event.

According to the BBC report, Prime Minister Brown said President Mugabe’s presence at the conference in Portugal would divert attention from important issues such as poverty, climate change and health.

Prime Minister Brown told the Independent newspaper that President Mugabe had an EU travel ban for a reason - “the abuse of his own people”.

The European Union-African Union summit will take place in Lisbon in December.
Prime Minister Brown described the EU/AU summit as a “serious opportunity” to forge stronger partnerships between Africa and the EU.

“I believe President Mugabe’s presence would undermine the summit, divert attention from the important issues that need to be resolved,” he said. “In those circumstances, my attendance would not be appropriate.”

Prime Minister Brown said Britain had a responsibility to the people of Zimbabwe, who find themselves in an “appalling and tragic” situation.

Quoting a senior source in the Portuguese government, the BBC report stated that no invitation had yet been sent to President Mugabe.

The BBC’s Europe editor, Mark Mardell, said he understood diplomats were being “very active in trying to find a compromise”.

“This could involve inviting another Zimbabwean representative, such as a junior member of the government or a civil servant, so that Mr Brown could attend,” he said.
Portugal, which holds the rotating EU presidency, is keen to invite every African leader for the summit on 8 and 9 December.

However, the Portuguese may let the African Union decide which leaders should attend.
BBC world affairs correspondent Allan Little said criticism from Britain, the old colonial power, was a double-edged sword, because in both Zimbabwe and South Africa, this could be portrayed as an attempt to re-assert the interests of the white minority.

In order to allow President Mugabe to attend the conference, EU member states would have to convene before the summit and agree to lift the travel ban currently imposed on him.

But Prime Minister Brown is urging EU leaders to keep it in place.

“There is no freedom in Zimbabwe: no freedom of association; no freedom of the press,” said Prime Minister Brown, who was chancellor in 2004 when Jack Straw, foreign secretary at the time, was pictured shaking hands with the Zimbabwean leader at the UN.