SADC SUMMIT KEEPS STUDIED SILENCE ON ZIMBABWE

C O N F I D E N T I A L GABORONE 001203 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/S MUNCY E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/22/2015 TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV ETRD RW WZ ZI ZU BC SADC SUBJECT: SADC SUMMIT KEEPS STUDIED SILENCE ON ZIMBABWE REF: GABORONE 1099 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires a.i. Lois Aroian for Reasons 1.4 (B) a nd (D) ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: The "Silver Jubilee" Southern African Development Community (SADC) Summit held in Gaborone August 17-18 tackled no thorny issues. Incoming SADC Chair, Botswana President Festus Mogae, urged concrete steps to make SADC effective. The regional leaders did not speak out on Zimbabwe. They appointed a new Mozambican-Angolan duo to lead the SADC Secretariat, welcomed Madagascar as a member, and deferred a decision on Rwanda's membership. The Summit voted on but did not pass a Protocol on the Free Movement of People within the region, partly because of Botswana's reservations about the likely increased immigration from poorer to richer states. For the first time, an NGO summit preceded the official event and, despite the predictable lack of focus, issued a communiqu demanding greater respect for human rights, better governance, and freer trade. END SUMMARY FOCUS ON ENHANCING EFFECTIVENESS ¶2. (U) The theme of President Mogae's acceptance speech as incoming chair was the need to improve the operational effectiveness of SADC. He pointed to slow implementation of the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan, the belated conclusion of the feasibility study for the new SADC headquarters, and the tendency for members to sign, ratify and ignore regional protocols. Mogae called for a mechanism to ensure implementation of protocols, particularly the Trade Protocol, greater focus on prioritized regional objectives, and cost saving measures by the Secretariat. ¶3. (SBU) Mogae asked that newly appointed Executive Secretary Tomas Augusto Salomao of Mozambique, focus on SIPDIS achieving these objectives. Mr. Salomao is a former Minister of Planning and Finance as well as of Transport and Communications. Joao Samuel Caholo, of Angola, will be his deputy. Mr. Caholo previously directed the SADC Energy Commission and is a former Deputy Minister of Fisheries in the Angolan Government. (Comment: A SADC-country diplomat had expressed certainty that the female Botswana candidate would win the deputy slot, owing to SADC's commitment to female empowerment and the impossibility of having two Portuguese speakers in the top positions. End comment.) SADC SUMMIT AVOIDS PUBLIC COMMENT ON ZIMBABWE ¶4. (U) At an August 18 press conference, President Mogae explained that the Summit had not deliberated on the situation in Zimbabwe because no country had included that subject in the agenda. He added that while Botswana and other neighbors advise Zimbabwe's leaders "privately and in confidence," they cannot do more. This was reaffirmed that same day when former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano, named by the AUto mediate in Zimbabwe, told the press that the overnment of Zimbabwe did not need his assistance n settling its internal disputes. Mogae's accptance speech as Chair includd a paean to Mugabe as a founding father of SADC ("you did it all for us") that was a reminder of the residual goodwill toward Mugabe, rooted in the liberation history of the region. Mugabe received a warm public welcome at the Summit sessions and dinner. RWANDA MEMBERSHIP DEFERRED ¶5. (C) While Rwanda's membership was on the agenda, the Summit deferred the issue. Botswana contacts told Charge that Rwanda had not yet qualified for membership, but tensions with the DRC were certainly a main reason for postponing a decision. SADC also seems undecided on the appropriate geographical parameters for membership. (Comment: Rwanda reportedly was one of the difficult issues that caused the official Summit closing to start three and a half hours late. End comment). REGIONAL REDISTRIBUTION KEY TO FOOD SECURITY ¶6. (U) The Summit's communiqu emphasized that, taken as a whole, the SADC region is self-sufficient in maize and that member countries need to mobilize resources to import food from neighbors with grain surpluses to prevent hunger (reftel). In his welcome address, President Mogae appealed to the international community for emergency assistance but noted that, in the long term, SADC countries would have to adopt policies to enhance agriculture output. NGO SUMMIT SEEKS ACTION ON ZIMBABWE AND OTHER ISSUES ¶7. (U) For the first time, the annual SADC summit was preceded by a parallel civil society event. The SADC Council of Non-Governmental Organizations (SADC-CNGO) and the Media Institute of Southern Africa hosted a conference of civil society organizations from around the region August 14-16 in Gaborone. The purpose of the event was to articulate a common agenda and to begin to exert some pressure on the SADC heads of state to respond to accordingly. ¶8. (U) The participants' concerns, as reflected in their discussions and the resulting communiqu, addressed a range of civil and human rights issues as well as economic growth and employment creation. These included absence of legislation facilitating access to information, the harassment of journalists, the antagonistic attitude that governments in the region tend to adopt toward civil society organizations who hope to influence public policy, and insufficient action to promote gender equality. ¶9. (U) A focus group on regional integration castigated governments for their slow pace in lowering barriers to trade within the region, describing that as a source of unemployment and poverty. Delegates repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with the regional response to HIV/AIDS. In a panel dedicated to the situations in Zimbabwe and Swaziland, participants deplored the failure of regional heads of state to take any action to encourage the two regimes to respect their citizens' human and civil rights. The communiqu called upon the Summit to urge the Mugabe regime to accept the findings and act on the recommendations of the UN Special Envoy to Zimbabwe on Operation Murambatsvina. ¶10. (U) Participants were clearly feeling their way into what they described as, for most, the new territory of policy advocacy. Consequently, their deliberations frequently lacked direction and concrete strategy suggestions. Nonetheless, the convening of this assembly and the production of a communiqu represented an important step toward enhancing democratic accountability in the region. COMMENT ¶11. (SBU) The official SADC summit underscored that Mugabe's historical role as a liberation leader and solidarity within the region's ruling elite remain more powerful influences on foreign policy than the adverse impacts of the situation in Zimbabwe on each member country. It remains to be seen whether civil society organizations will follow through on their commitment to engage their leaders, despite the obstacles to doing so, in order to demand solutions to their problems - particularly pertaining to human and civil rights, poverty, and health. This underscores the wisdom and value of working with these groups and building their capacity to deepen democracy in Southern Africa. AROIAN NNNN