New regional summit on Zim

MAPUTO – Mozambique will host a regional summit on Zimbabwe on Thursday in hopes of breaking a deadlock that threatens Harare’s fragile unity government, the foreign ministry spokesperson said.

The three-member security organ of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which brokered Zimbabwe’s unity deal, will hold the summit in the Mozambican capital Maputo, Yunassy Muchanga said.’They have agreed to hold a meeting here on Thursday. But we don’t know any more details yet,’ she said.Mozambique currently heads SADC’s security organ, which sent a delegation to Harare last week to mediate between veteran President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the former opposition leader who joined the government in February.Swaziland and Zambia are also members of the Troika, and Muchanga said other countries were unlikely to take part in the talks.Tsvangirai suspended co-operation with Mugabe’s party more than two weeks ago, threatening the fragile pact that had been hailed as an end to last year’s deadly electoral violence.Joseph Kabila, president of the Democratic Republic of Congo who currently heads SADC, was in Harare yesterday for talks with both leaders.Tsvangirai’s spokesperson James Maridadi said the premier would attend the Maputo talks.’Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai will be attending the conference in Maputo on Thursday to discuss the power -sharing agreement,’ he said.- Nampa-AFP