ZIMBABWE: Zimbabweans disappointed by President Robert Mugabe's absence from SADC summit

Record ID: 1538395

  • Title: ZIMBABWE: Zimbabweans disappointed by President Robert Mugabe's absence from SADC summit
  • Date: 12th April 2008
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) JAMESON SAYING: "I think it was disrespectful of Robert Mugabe not to join the other heads of state in Lusaka to discuss the crisis in Zimbabwe today, but it also demonstrates his stubborness and how he views the regional body. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ELIZA SAYING: "He is just afraid of being confronted by the others and since he can't step down on his own, he has just decided to stay away" (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNNAMED HARARE RESIDENT SAYING: "We are a well respected country and at the same time we want to maintain that, and to maintain that he was supposed to go, its unfortunate that he didn't go."
  • Embargoed: 27th April 2008 12:41
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Zimbabwe
  • Country: Zimbabwe
  • Topics: International Relations,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA1D8VMGH62C9LWFBTVEMVGSQMN
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: People on the streets of Harare on Saturay (April 12) were disappointed but not necessarily surprised by President Robert Mugabe's decision not to attend a summit on the country's political crisis.
    Zimbabwe's opposition on Friday called a general strike after officials said President Robert Mugabe would snub the regional summit called to discuss rising fears of bloodshed over delayed election results.
    As tension increased over the election deadlock, police accused the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) of "spoiling for a fight" and of deploying 350 youth wing members around the country.
    The police banned a rally planned for Sunday by the MDC, which called an indefinite general strike starting next Tuesday to push for results from the March 29 election to be released.
    State radio said Zimbabwe would be represented by three ministers at the summit on Saturday in Lusaka of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which was expected to pressure Mugabe to release the results.
    Human rights organisations and the MDC say Mugabe has unleashed a campaign of systematic violence in response to his ZANU-PF party's first electoral defeat. The MDC says its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, won a parallel presidential vote, whose results have not been announced and Mugabe's 28-year rule is over. The MDC accuses Mugabe of delaying the result so that he can intimidate opposition supporters before a run-off vote against Tsvangirai.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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