Government ministers from the Southern African Development Community's 15-member states will meet today to discuss how to help Zimbabwe recover from a decade of recession and resolve a political crisis in Madagascar.
SADC Countries The talks near Swaziland's capital Mbabane will be followed by a heads-of-state summit tomorrow chaired by South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, the current chairman of the trading bloc. The leaders will discuss a "proposed economic recovery plan and chart the way forward" for Zimbabwe, South Africa 's foreign affairs ministry said in a March 27 e-mail. They will also discuss proposals "to assist Madagascar to return to democracy." Zimbabwe's economy has collapsed, with at least 6.9 million people, or more than half the population, needing food aid and 94 percent with no formal employment, according to the United Nations. A meeting of SADC ministers over the crises in Zimbabwe and Madagascar ended inconclusively last month in Cape Town. A unity government was established last month in Zimbabwe comprising President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
Newly appointed Finance Minister Tendai Biti is seeking $2 billion in emergency aid over the next 10 months.
On March 25, the International Monetary Fund said it wouldn't release aid to Zimbabwe until the southern African nation cleared its arrears of about $130 million. The IMF stopped lending to Zimbabwe in 1999 over the valuation of the Zimbabwe dollar and the presence of Zimbabwean troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In 2003 the Washington-based lender suspended Zimbabwe's voting rights. The African Development Bank said on Feb. 26 that Zimbabwe owes it $460 million, which must be repaid before it can resume lending.
SADC may also decide whether to suspend Madagascar from its ranks, or impose sanctions against the Indian Ocean island nation following the ousting of its president. Opposition leader Andry Rajoelina, 34, was sworn in as president on March 21 after Marc Ravalomanana quit under pressure from the military following two months of protests in which more than 100 people died. The African Union described the change in government as a coup and suspended the country's membership. Ravalomanana is due to attend the talks in Swaziland, Africa's last absolute monarchy, which borders on South Africa and Mozambique. The SADC comprises South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Mauritius, Angola, Swaziland, Seychelles and the Democratic Republic of Congo.