Sadc summit opens in Maputo

He was met at the Maputo Interna­tional Airport by Foreign Affairs Min­ister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, Jus­tice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa, Zimbabwean ambassador to Mozambique Agrippa Mutambara and Mozambican government offi­cials.
Minister Mumbengegwi and Minis­ter Chinamasa were already in Mozam­bique for preparatory meet­ings for the Sadc Summit.

Vice President John Landa Nkomo is the Acting President.
The Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zim­babwe Defence Forces, who is accom­panied by First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe and senior Govern­ment offi­cials, will join regional lead­ers at the summit which was preceded by yester­day’s Sadc Troika meeting and a Coun­cil of Ministers meeting.

The summit will consider reports from the region’s hot spots such as Madagascar and the DRC.
The Sadc-appointed facilitation team led by South African President Jacob Zuma is expected to report on progress made in the implementation of the GPA.
Mr Zuma was in Harare on Tuesday where he separately met President Mu-gabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Professor Welshman Ncube.

Speaking to journalists after meet­ing Mr Zuma, President Mugabe said their meeting went on well, adding that he had briefed the Sadc facilitator on the GPA’s progress and the Consti­tution making process which had globally moved towards the making of a consti­tution and subsequently a ref­erendum and elections.
President Mugabe said there were no hitches in the constitution-making pro-cess and expressed hope that there would be no controversies at today’s summit.

Mr Zuma commended the progress in the implementation of the GPA, say­ing although there were some minor hitches, there had been some positive movement. He said he would brief the full Sadc summit today on the progress in Zim­babwe after reporting to the Sadc Troika yesterday on the same issue.

Mr Tsvangirai told the media after meeting Mr Zuma in Harare that the draft constitution would be revisited, as Zanu-PF was still to conclude discus­sions on the document.

Prior to the summit, Mr Tsvangirai visited several Sadc countries, among them Mozambique and Tanzania, in what his party called a “diplomatic offensive” to sell its position on the implementation of the GPA.
Mozambique is the incoming Sadc chair, while Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete is the incoming chair of the Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation.

According to a programme released by the Sadc secretariat, today’s meeting will start with statements from summit host and incoming Sadc chair President Armando Guebuza.
There would also be speeches from officials for the African Union Com­mission, the African Development Bank and the UN Economic Commis­sion for Africa.

This will be followed by maiden speeches by three new leaders in the region, President Michael Sata of Zam­bia, President Joyce Banda of Malawi and Prime Minister Thomas Thabane of Lesotho.
A ceremony for regional winners of the 2011 Sadc Essay Competition and a media awards event would be con­ducted. The summit will go into session before a

State banquet for Heads of State and Government in the evening.
The leaders will reconvene tomorrow after which various legal instruments will be signed. There will be the reading of the summit communiqué by Sadc executive secretary Dr Tomaz Salomao.