Word: mbeki
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...find a solution to the situation, which he called "a serious crisis with impact beyond Zimbabwe." But leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) kept noticeably quiet on Zimbabwe at a summit on poverty and development being held in Mauritius - except to ask South African President Thabo Mbeki to continue to lead mediation efforts on their behalf...
...South Africa is the neighbor with the most leverage over Zimbabwe because of economic ties, but President Mbeki has stuck fast to his policy of "quiet diplomacy," refusing to apply visible pressure on Mugabe. Still, Mbeki's political marginalization within his own party, which made him a lame duck when it chose his arch-rival Jacob Zuma as ANC president last December, has emboldened critics of his Zimbabwe policy. Trade union members in the South African port of Durban refused to offload a Chinese ship carrying armaments for the Zimbabwean government. The vessel, having also been denied entry to Mozambique...
...thousands more refugees streaming across the border. Although Mugabe has long traded on his credentials as an anti-imperialist liberation hero, younger leaders in the region are exasperated by Mugabe's behavior. On Friday, Botswana's foreign minister, Phandu Skelemani, broke ranks with his SADC peers to publicly criticize Mbeki's handling of the crisis and admit that leaders are more concerned about the situation than is reflected in their public statements...
...Referring to the extraordinary SADC summit called the previous weekend to discuss Zimbabwe, he said: "Everyone agreed that things are not normal, except Mbeki... But now he understands that the rest of SADC feels this is a matter of urgency and we are risking lives and limbs being lost. He got that message clearly." Still, Mugabe can count on a more sympathetic hearing from such liberation-era stalwarts as Angola's President Eduardo Dos Santos...
...Although Mugabe may be vulnerable to pressure from his neighbors, analysts doubt that member states of the SADC will agree on any decisive action that could force him to go. South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki and other leaders have previously given Mugabe political cover by endorsing the results of previous elections that have looked questionable to international observers. "The one thing Mugabe has been able to do is rely on the support of the region," says Elizabeth Sidiropoulos, national director of the South African Institute for International Affairs. "So, the question is, at what point do Mugabe...