Botswana's President Khama stayed away from the recent summit meeting of the Southern African Development Community because Robert Mugabe was attending, and Botswana does not recognize his government. This increases pressure on the SADC to deal with the Zimbabwe political situation But there are also rumors that President Khama is motivated by an interest in hosting AFRICOM. Of course some of these reports come from Zimbabwe as a counter move against Botswana's boycott. From Kenya's The Nation:

The Herald newspaper, a [Zimbabwean] government mouthpiece, claimed that the main reason Botswana boycotted the summit was because it wanted to pull out of the regional grouping on the orders of the United States.

Mbeki has been brokering a deal during the course of the SADC summit to work out some sort of compromise government in Zimbabwe. They did not achieve anything at the summit, but Mbeki intends to go to Harare later this week and continue his efforts. I found the observations of Sentletse Diakanyo interesting:

It may perhaps be appropriate to examine what could be motivating Ian Khama to remain stubborn when the political landscape in Zimbabwe is shifting. Botswana has very close and historic ties with Britain and we can not be certain of the influence that 10 Downing Street still exerts in its former protectorate. Europe is Botswana’s largest trading partner; over 70% of export trade is directed to Europe. It would not be surprising if Botswana was acting to protect its own economic interests and not to offend the position taken by Britain. After all, it is bad manners to bite the hand that feeds you.

Where does the US fit in to all this? In 1980, Botswana entered into a training agreement with US military — a commitment that it has sustained over the years. To date the development of the Botswana military has been sustained primarily through contributions from the US.

Botswana had also recently expressed interest in hosting Africa Command (Africom), when the rest of the SADC countries were hostile to the idea of the US establishing military bases on their soil … Not only did Botswana express its interest, it went further and signed in 2003, under controversial circumstances, the so-called Status-of-Force Agreement (SOFA), a non-surrender pact defining the legal standing of US soldiers stationed abroad.

…

Maintaining the military support received from the US is important to Botswana and Ian Khama, as a former army commander. Botswana, with a population of a mere 1.8 million, does not have sufficient men in boots to defend itself in case of a military threat. It would appear that Khama does not want to be seen to be showing the Bush Administration a middle finger.

It may after all be a strategic rather than a principled position by Khama to boycott the SADC meeting, confident in the knowledge that a solution will definitely be found; while appeasing his masters and maintaining continued military support, as well as sustaining Botswana’s economic relationship with Europe.

I doubt a truly workable deal will be reached in Zimbabwe anytime soon.  But that does not necessarily negate the speculations about Botswana, its ties to the US, and potential for cooperation with AFRICOM.

This boycott was a real change from Botswana's foreign policy in the past, which generally was something along the lines of hear, speak, or say no evil about any country.

Bathandwa Mbola
Johannesburg

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states officially launched a Free Trade Area (FTA) for the region at the weekend, ushering in a new era of economic integration.

Launched during the 28th SADC Summit, the agreement ushers in a new era of economic integration and rapid industrialisation of the sub-region through expanded trading opportunities.

Speaking at the official launch, President Thabo Mbeki, who is also the new SADC Chairperson, told delegates from SADC member states that the FTA was a collective milestone in the region's ongoing integration programme.

"Today we can say with pride that our collective efforts have borne fruits, and that we have successfully met the objective we set ourselves. Indeed it required hard work, dedication, resolve and an unswerving commitment to mobilise our limited resources so as to meet our objective," President Mbeki said.

With the goal of eliminating tariffs and trade barriers among member countries, the FTA agreement is part of the SADC's ongoing efforts to deepen long-term regional integration with the aim of [continue reading]

Luyanda Makapela and Bathandwa Mbola
Johannesburg

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders have reaffirmed their commitment to finding a lasting solution to the Zimbabwe negotiations aimed at establishing a government of national unity.

Addressing reporters after the 28th Ordinary SADC Summit in Sandton on Sunday, President Thabo Mbeki, said some agreements have been made in the negotiations, but discussions were still continuing due to certain issues still outstanding.

Mr Mbeki, who is the chief mediator in facilitating talks in Zimbabwe and the Head of State who took over as Chairperson of SADC from the Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa on Saturday, said the SADC member states wanted the discussions to be concluded soon.

"As SADC, we encourage and appeal to the parties to sign any outstanding agreements and conclude the negotiations as a matter of urgency in order to [continue reading]

JOHANNESBURG: A meeting of southern African leaders ended Sunday without a power-sharing agreement being reached between Zimbabwe's ruling party and the main opposition, an opposition spokesman said Sunday, but President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa said regional leaders would continue the negotiations.

President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change have been trying to reach a deal to end the post-election political crisis that has crippled Zimbabwe.

"There is no deal yet," said George Sibotshiwe, a spokesman for Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change. Tsvangirai had said earlier Sunday that the negotiations were going "very well."

Although later Sunday, the secretary general of the MDC, Tendai Biti, said that he believed a power-sharing deal with the country's ruling party would be reached soon.

Biti told a news conference in Johannesburg after the talks had finished that the MDC was committed to the negotiations and that failure was not an option.

Leaders of the [continue reading]

South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki has urged Southern African leaders to use their annual summit this weekend to help settle Zimbabwe's political crisis.

Opening the 28th summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Johannesburg on Saturday, Mbeki said the meeting should draw on its history of organising efforts to end white minority rule "to help put Zimbabwe on the right road to its recovery..."

Mbeki assumed the chairmanship of the SADC at the meeting, succeeding President Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia. The summit is being attended by both Zimbabwe's principal political protaganists, Robert Mugabe of Zanu-PF - who was seated as president of Zimbabwe - and Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Mbeki said the summit gave the region's leaders "the possibility to assist the Zimbabwean parties to finalise their negotiations so that together they can engage the work to achieve national healing and reconciliation and attend to the... reconstruction and development of Zimbabwe."

In this way, he added, Zimbabwe's leaders could [continue reading]

JOHANNESBURG: When President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe attends a summit meeting here over the weekend he will face protests and pressure to surrender at least some of his power.

Botswana said its president, Seretse Ian Khama, will not attend the southern African summit because Mugabe will be there, and once-supportive South Africans are to hold an anti-Mugabe march when the leaders meet.

The meeting of the Southern African Development Community was to focus on efforts to fight poverty through regional development through cross-border cooperation - the two-day meeting is to close Sunday with the announcement of a free trade agreement. But such economic good news was overshadowed by political trouble in Zimbabwe that was creating tension within the 14-member bloc, known as SADC.

The Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai met with key southern African leaders in Johannesburg on the eve of the meeting.

One of his aides, George Sibotshiwe, said Tsvangirai was briefing them on efforts to form a transitional unity government that are being mediated by President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, who takes over SADC's rotating chair at [continue reading]

Johannesburg - The fact that Botswana's President Ian Khama would not attend this weekend's SADC summit would not diminish the importance of unity within the region, Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Friday.

"Botswana is a sovereign state and has a right to take whatever decision it deems fit," said Dlamini-Zuma at a media briefing in Sandton.

Khama boycotted the summit after Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was invited. He believed that Mugabe's re-election was a sham and illegitimate.

Instead, Botswana's foreign minister will represent the country.

Both Dlamini-Zuma and SADC Executive Secretary Tomaz Salomao said they respected Khama's decision.

However, Dlamini-Zuma said work would continue and [continue reading]

The crisis in Zimbabwe is likely to be one of the top issues at the forthcoming Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) summit of heads of state and government leaders to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, on August 16.

Political, economic and social happenings in Zimbabwe can be expected to take centre stage because they have the potential to impact negatively on SADC's march to the envisaged regional integration and South Africa's hosting of the FIFA 2010 World Cup finals.

At the SADC meeting of heads of state held in August last year, it was anticipated that the economy of Zimbabwe would improve and pave the way for a Customs Union and Free Trade Area. To the contrary, Zimbabwe's economy has nose-dived while unemployment has reached the 80 percent mark.

Hyperinflation and unemployment has forced Zimbabweans to [continue reading]

LUSAKA: Zambia's President Levy Mwanawasa will not attend the August 16-17 Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Heads of State and Government summit to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Health Minister, Dr Brian Chituwo, told parliament yesterday that the president is under high sedation and the healing process may take a little longer.

President Mwanawasa, who is the current SADC chairman, has been admitted to Paris' Percy Military Hospital in France, where he was flown after suffering a stroke as he attended the recent special African Union (AU) meeting on Zimbabwe in Egypt.

Mwanawasa was supposed to hand over the chairmanship of the regional grouping to South Africa's President, Thabo Mbeki, at the [continue reading]

The implementation of the SADC Trade Protocol has been a long and painstaking regional process that will continue beyond the formal launch of the Free Trade Area at the SADC Summit in mid-August.

Twelve SADC Member States have signed up to the protocol following a ratification process and are therefore part of the Free Trade Area (FTA), with the exception of Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo who have asked for more time before joining the FTA.

The official launch of the FTA is expected during the 28th Southern African Development Community (SADC) Summit in South Africa on 16-17 August, signalling the creation of one of the largest free trade zones on the African continent with more than 250 million people.

This historic event that will usher in a new era of economic integration and rapid industrialisation of the sub-region through expanded trading opportunities.

Premised on the gradual removal of barriers to trade, the [continue reading]

High transport costs, multiple affiliations and conflicting interests over proposed tariffs reforms among Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states could hobble any advantages that the launch of a Free Trade Area (FTA) might bring to the region, according to the Trade Law Centre of Southern Africa (Tralac).

The SADC FTA will be launched at the region's heads of state summit in South Africa this weekend.

There are also still strong rumblings among member states over whether the SADC Trade Protocol or the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) should form the foundation of the FTA, although it has been agreed that the former document will prevail.

"The distinction between the Trade Protocol and the RISDP is important. The Trade Protocol is a legally binding instrument, whereas the RISDP is a strategic plan which [continue reading]

A WEEK-long boycott of goods bound for Zimbabwe and Swaziland is among several protest actions civil society plans ahead of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit.

To be held on Saturday and Sunday in Johannesburg, the heads of state and government summit is likely to feature measures by civil society to press the leaders of Zimbabwe and Swaziland to allow democratic reforms.

A march had been scheduled for Saturday to drive home the message that President Robert Mugabe and King Mswati were not welcome in SA "and that we can no longer tolerate countries that do not practise democracy," Zwelinzima Vavi, general secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), said yesterday.

"We have noted and continue to note that electoral fraud, political manipulation by ruling elites, institutionalised oppression and state brutality are the key defining features of the two states," he said at the end of a solidarity conference focusing on [continue reading]

On Wednesday, talks on Zimbabwe's political crisis broke up, in order to allow "time to consider" the situation to Morgan Tsvangirai, the main opposition leader, sources said.

During this time, South African president headed to Angola, where he met president Jose Eduardo dos Santos, head of the political department of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). He is worried about the impact of a possible political "meltdown" in Zimbabwe.

During Mr Mbeki’s absence, a Ruling Zanu PF party official claimed that a deal had been reached between Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s president, and a smaller opposition faction, excluding Morgan Tsvangirai.

But Thabo Mbeki, after mediating three days of talks between the rivals in Harare, the Zimbabwean capital, said he knew of no deal being signed, before adding that he remained confident all three sides could find an agreement.

‘Acting together’

"We have dealt with all the elements on which president Mugabe and Mutambara agree, but there is disagreement on one element over which Morgan Tsvangirai had asked for time to reflect", Mr Mbeki said.

"We have adjourned to give Morgan Tsvangirai more time to consider these matters.”

"I'm quite confident they will resolve all their outstanding matters which would result in this inclusive government and, in the second instance, then acting together", Mr Mbeki told reporters.

"No deal has been signed by anyone. Dialogue is still continuing", emphasised Welshman Ncube, secretary general for Mr Mutambara's faction.

On Wednesday, South African president met his Angolan counterpart in Luanda, reported Angolan state radio. He was expected to return to South Africa afterwards, ahead of a summit of regional leaders this weekend.

Facilitating discussions

Adding "after that we are going back home", Mukoni Ratshitanga, a spokesman for Thabo Mbeki, said that he was to give a report to the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

The SADC, a 14-nation regional bloc, has appointed Mr Mbeki mediator for the Zimbabwe crisis. Over the weekend, he had arrived in Harare for negotiations between Mr Mugabe, Mr Tsvangirai and Mr Mutambara.

"The talks are adjourned, not ended, but I wouldn't say until when. Tsvangirai needs more time to consult", Thabo Mbeki's spokesman told the AFP news agency.

"I wouldn't know about it. We are facilitating discussions among three parties", answered Mr Mbeki earlier, when he was asked whether signatures had been put to a deal.

Negotiations included proposals for Robert Mugabe to take on a more ceremonial role, in exchange for amnesty from prosecution, while Morgan Tsvangirai would be made executive prime minister.

By Hans Pienaar and Peter Fabricius

If there is no deal in the Zimbabwe talks, as seemed likely on Tuesday night, chances of Botswana's President Ian Khama attending this weekend's SADC summit would be slight, a source in his office said.

Botswana broke ranks last month with the 13 other Southern African Development Community members and declared it might not attend the summit on Saturday and Sunday in Sandton if Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is there.

The source said this meant at the "political level" - Botswana officials would still take part at ministerial level in the preliminary rounds.

Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad made it clear on Tuesday at his weekly briefing that Mugabe would be welcome at the summit, at which South Africa will take over the chair.

He said it was the prerogative of the SADC secretariat to [continue reading]

There are a number of indications that South African President Thabo Mbeki might fail to deliver a Zimbabwe power-sharing deal to his SADC peers, when they meet for the upcoming summit which starts on Saturday in Johannesburg.

Mbeki is under pressure to show results before he hosts the summit, which appointed him to find a solution to the country’s crisis that is undermining regional security. But so far, his power sharing push has hit a political head wind.

On Monday the South African leader had to personally intervene to restrain MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai from walking out of the talks, after a heated exchange of words with Robert Mugabe.

A source in Harare told us it would be a miracle if Mbeki secured a deal before Saturday’s summit.
The talks came to a boil when Tsvangirai told Mugabe point blank that while he could work with Zanu-PF moderates he could not share power with him.

‘Mugabe furiously went into a tirade, calling Tsvangirai names and accused him of being used by Western leaders. An equally angry Tsvangirai hit back accusing Mugabe of being a murderer, who [continue reading]

Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Phandu Skelemani, has reaffirmed government's position that it does not recognise Robert Mugabe as president of Zimbabwe and will not attend any African Union (AU) or SADC meetings if he is invited.

Answering questions from Members of Parliament (MPs) on Friday after giving a statement to the House, Skelemani said that Mugabe was not democratically elected, hence his leadership is illegitimate. He, however, said the government will recognise the outcome of the ongoing talks between Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai's party on transitional government to solve the country's economic and political crises. He said that the Botswana Embassy in Harare would remain operational since "it does not only service the government there but also the ordinary Zimbabweans". He said that government will screen all refugees entering Botswana and those qualifying for political refuge status will be assisted whilst economic refugees will be returned home.

In his statement, Skelemani said that the reasons for Botswana government not recognising Mugabe are [continue reading]

Head of policy and strategic planning at SADC, Professor Angelo Mondlane, has said Zimbabwe is not the first country in Africa to slash zeros in an attempt to stabilise its currency.

"We have seen it in Mozambique and Angola. It comes about because of the abnormal situation of war or political turmoil.

If it is a war, the solution is to stop the war first. If it is political strife, stop it and then undertake the necessary stabilisation and adjustment measures," Mondlane said. He said one of the main causes of inflation in Zimbabwe is that there is not enough goods in circulation.

The little, which is available, triggers spiraling prices. Mondlane said the prices keep rising so long as [continue reading]

Owino Wene

With its powerful neighbour, South Africa treading carefully on the Zimbabwe crisis, Botswana’s new president Ian Khama has shown very little regard for Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe and the southern Africa old boys’ club of presidents, writes Owino Wene, a Daily Monitor correspondent in Gaborone.

Dismissed as an upstart in African diplomacy and regional power politics for long, Botswana has suddenly emerged as the most vocal and concerted voice in the continent against the Zimbabwe crisis.
The diamond-rich southern African country now rivals South Africa and Zambia as the focal points of southern African diplomacy. Through straight talk and bold pre-emptive actions, Botswana has won the diplomatic initiative on Zimbabwe and emerged as an important player in the region, thanks to the new administration of President Ian Khama who took over in April.

As the rest of Africa wrings its hands at every turn on how to handle the unfolding crisis in Zimbabwe, previously less regarded Botswana has provided leadership by being very clear and proactive on [continue reading]

1 August 2008
Posted to the web 1 August 2008

Brigitte Weidlich

THE long-awaited free trade area (FTA) for southern Africa will be launched on August 17 during the annual summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

It will be preceded by a comprehensive information campaign across al 14 member states.

Launching the information campaign for Namibia in Windhoek yesterday, Mvula ya Nangolo, special advisor to the Information Ministry, said the removal of import and export tariffs and trade barriers among the SADC countries would bring regional economic integration a huge step further.

Reading the speech of Information Minister Joel Kaapanda, who could not attend the event, Ya Nangolo said the [continue reading]

The emergency SADC summit that was set to convene on Friday has been postponed, shortly after South African President Thabo Mbeki announced that the talks between Zimbabwe’s rival political parties were to continue on Sunday.

The summit of heads of State and Governments of the Organ of Politics, Defence and Security had been called on short notice following this week’s report that the talks had broken down. Despite Mbeki’s insistence that the talks were “progressing well”, the announcement of the summit, coupled with the South African President’s rush to meet the leaders of the negotiating parties, were the first clear signs that talks had deadlocked.

With little information about the state of the talks available due to the mass media blackout, one can only make assumptions based on such signs. It would appear that while the SADC summit was convened to “discuss the Zimbabwe crisis in light of the talks”, the urgent nature of the meeting might have been used as a threat to push the deadlocked negotiating parties into action. The fact that the postponement came not long after Mbeki’s announcement that the talks were resuming, further fuels belief that SADC used a power card to pressure the parties to resume their negotiating efforts.

The widely accepted belief is the deadlock had been caused by the [continue reading]

Johannesburg/Gabarone - The government of Botswana has threatened to boycott an upcoming summit of the 14-country Southern African Development Community (SADC) if controversial Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe attends, South African radio reported Friday.

SAfm radio quoted the foreign ministry of Zimbabwe's diamond-rich neighbour as saying that taking part in a summit of SADC heads of state on August 14-15 in South Africa attended by Mugabe would be tantamount to recognising him as president.

Botswana has refused to recognise Mugabe's victory in a one-man June 29 presidential election that opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai boycotted after a spate of deadly militia attacks on his supporters.

After South Africa, which is home to an estimated 1-3 million mostly undocumented Zimbabweans, the wealthy desert state of Botswana is the neighbouring country of choice for [continue reading]

A regional court in Namibia has ruled that the Zimbabwean government violated an interim order issued last December, which stipulated that they would not evict any commercial farmers involved in the ongoing case, or interfere with their operations, until the case is decided. Government sponsored thugs have since evicted some of the farmers and tortured 3 others who are key players in the case.

The ruling by the Tribunal was released on Tuesday as the 3 rival political parties in Zimbabwe prepared for talks that are supposed to lead to a resolution of the broader crisis. The judges said the finding will be reported to the SADC summit due in South Africa in August, so that appropriate action can be taken. A lawyer for the farmers told Newsreel last week that SADC has the options of imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe, expulsion or some other action. Whatever the SADC leaders decide, it will be a test of their commitment to the SADC principles, which are laid out in the [continue reading]

A Southern African Development Community (SADC) Task Force of Ministers for Trade, Finance and Agriculture called on the regional member states to phase-out export duty on major food crops in the face of the looming food crisis that has already sparked riots in other parts of the world.
The Ministerial Task Force that met in Lusaka, Zambia, last week Sunday was appointed by the 14 member states’ heads of states and government which met in Mauritius in April.

“There are a number of factors that are believed to contribute to the observed increase in world food prices. Key among them are the increasing consumption of food in emerging economies such as India and China, commodity speculation, and inadequate investment in agriculture in recent decades,” the statement released by the SADC Secretariat said Friday.

However, food prices in the SADC region are said to be more stable—compared to other parts of the developing world—with the region expected to [continue reading]

'Zimbabwe is a tragedy in more ways than one. It is a despicable disgrace to Africa and reinforces the racist notion that black Africans are incapable of ruling themselves. We took over from the departing white colonialists and in country after country we ran our economies into a sump [sic] and ruined our countries. The exceptions are few. Ian Smith, the former and late prime minister of Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, must be dancing in his grave. This hurts and cuts deep into my African pride.'
[continue...]

Cuts into mine, too. But Mugabe isn't alone. The big question is, What is the African going to do about it?

The Southern African Development Community's (SADC) unity and cohesion is being "fragilised and threatened" by the ongoing electoral impasse in Zimbabwe, Angolan foreign minister João Bernardo de Miranda said on Friday.

Miranda, opening a meeting in Durban of SADC Ministers of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security, said: "The situation of the republic of Zimbabwe is undoubtedly very complex."

He said the fact that there were "many interpretations" of the outcome of Zimbabwe's recent election meant that the "unity and cohesion of SADC is fragilised.

"It is our duty to defend and fight for the unity of our organisation."

The SADC Ministers of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security are expected to meet and discuss several issues, including the "post electoral situation in the Republic of Zimbabwe".

Miranda also said that the SADC had failed to [continue reading]