Zambian leaders calls Zimbabwe 'a sinking Titanic'

Zambian leaders calls Zimbabwe 'a sinking Titanic'

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By Irene Hoas

ZAMBIAN President Levy Mwanawasa urged southern Africa to take a new approach to Zimbabwe, which he likened to a "sinking Titanic" as millions flee economic and political turmoil.

In one of the strongest African comments on Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis, Mwanawasa said the Southern African Development Community (SADC) had failed to achieve much in negotiations with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

"Quiet diplomacy has failed to help solve the political chaos and economic meltdown in Zimbabwe," Mwanawasa said late on Monday in neighbouring Namibia.

"As I speak right now, one SADC country has sunk into such economic difficulties that it may be likened to a sinking Titanic whose passengers are jumping out in a bid to save their lives."

Zambian government newspapers said Mwanawasa had suggested SADC "would soon take a stand" on Zimbabwe.

Mwanawasa has stood virtually alone among southern African leaders in his willingness to criticise Mugabe, regarded by many as a liberation hero but condemned in the West for a brutal crackdown on opposition supporters and an economic crisis.

"Zambia has so far been an advocate of quiet diplomacy and continues to believe in it. But the twist of events in the troubled country necessitates the adoption of a new approach," Mwanawasa said.

"The ministers of foreign affairs will in the next few days meet over this matter," Mwanawasa was quoted as saying by Zambian government newspapers, adding regional leaders would then meet to discuss the situation.

There has been no official announcement of such a meeting, although SADC ministers are due in Lesotho this week for a regular conference.

The SADC council of non-governmental organisations also said it was time for the group to act.

"We believe that the crisis has reached a point where Zimbabweans need to be strongly persuaded and directly assisted to find an urgent solution to the crisis that affects the entire region," the SADC council of NGOs said in a statement.

South Africa, the regional power, has said it is concerned about "deteriorating" conditions in Zimbabwe but insists that Zimbabweans must find their own solutions to their problems.

Western countries have vowed to keep the heat on Mugabe despite threats to expel their diplomats if they continue to criticise his government, which this month arrested scores of opposition leaders for attempting to take part in a banned prayer rally.

Activists say many of the detainees were beaten in custody, and television images of the battered leader of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai, entering hospital sparked world outrage.

Britain and the United States have called for more sanctions against Mugabe's government, which is battling its worst economic crisis in decades with inflation at more than 1,700 percent, unemployment at 80 percent and regular shortages of food, fuel and foreign exchange.

Other regional leaders have remained largely silent on Zimbabwe, where Mugabe says he is being punished by the West for his policy of seizing white-owned farms to give to landless blacks. - Reuters

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