SADC SUMMIT

by RAY FLEMING
THE news that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is to meet tomorrow in Lusaka, Zambia, to consider the crisis in Zimbabwe is welcome.
The emergency summit meeting of the 14 countries of the Community has been called by Zambia's president, Levy Mwanawasa, who is its current chairman. Although the SADC has disappointed in the recent past by according Robert Mugabe a standing ovation on his arrival at its meetings, it seems likely that even those leaders who have always regarded him as an African “liberation hero” may be beginning to think that the time has come for him to go. On Monday the Zimbabwean supreme court is due to rule whether the results of the presidential election held almost two weeks ago should be made public. It is therefore important that tomorrow's SADC meeting should make its views known in clear terms. Anything less than robust support for the publication of the election results and for the transparency of the run-off between Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, if that is necessary, would be a signal to Mugabe and his supporters that his African neighbours are not resolute in their opposition to his dictatorial methods. Hopefully, self-interest will stiffen the resolve of SADC to put pressure on Mugabe to leave office with some dignity -- the economic collapse of Zimbabwe has already led to hundreds of thousands of its people becoming illegal immigrants in South Africa and other neighbouring countries, adding to their own considerable economic difficulties.