Call to lift sanctions

President Robert Mugabe was hailing a political victory yesterday after African leaders from the regional bloc South African Development Community (SADC) backed his calls to end international sanctions.

A statement of support, which came at the end of a regional summit, was a setback for Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who had pleaded with regional governments to keep them in place until Mugabe's faction met the terms of a power-sharing agreement.

The backing has again called into question the SADC's neutrality in dealing with Zimbabwe. Since the death of Zambia's President Levy Mwanawasa last year, the bloc has lost its leading critic of Mugabe. The replacement of South Africa's Thabo Mbeki with Jacob Zuma has disappointed those hoping for a stronger line from Zimbabwe's neighbours.

The statement "noted the progress made in the implementation of the Global Political Agreement" in Zimbabwe and went on to call on the international community to remove all forms of sanctions against Zimbabwe.

Tsvangirai has argued that the sanctions offer the only leverage over Mugabe's old guard. Tsvangirai was promised an extraordinary summit to conduct assessment of progress under the power-sharing accord before any call would be made on sanctions. But the meeting ended with no mention of this.

With the International Monetary Fund signalling this week that it would resume lending to the former pariah state, the SADC's support could spark a free-for-all among Mugabe cronies, who after nearly four decades in power control most of the remaining businesses and commercial assets.

To appease Tsvangirai, South Africa's Deputy President, Kgalema Motlanthe, said a summit to help ensure accountability among Zimbabwe's political protagonists was still possible.

There have been signs of recovery in Zimbabwe, with schools and some hospitals reopening and a switch to the US dollar ending hyperinflation. But human rights abuses continue.

- INDEPENDENT