TANZANIA: DEMARCHE DELIVERED ON TARGETED ZIMBABWE

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAR ES SALAAM 001567 SIPDIS SIPDIS AF/E FOR M BEYZEROV, AF/RSA FOR M BITTRICK ALSO AF/S FOR S HILL ADDIS FOR AU MISSION LONDON, PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/05/2017 TAGS: PREL PHUM ETRD ETTC TZ SUBJECT: TANZANIA: DEMARCHE DELIVERED ON TARGETED ZIMBABWE SANCTIONS REF: STATE 161333 Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission, D. Purnell Delly for reasons 1.4 (b,d). ¶1. (C) Tanzania's Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs, Ambassador Seif Ali Iddi, said that while the Government of Tanzania (GOT) is dismayed at the violence against the political opposition in Zimbabwe, it believes President Mugabe's continued involvement in the SADC mediation process is a positive sign. The Deputy Chief of Mission underlined to Iddi in their December 4 meeting that the financial and travel sanctions to be imposed on additional Zimabweans were targeting the perpetrators of such violence and were in no way intended to undermine the SADC initiative. The U.S. remains strongly supportive of this initiative. ¶2. (C) Ambassador Iddi stressed that all SADC member states have encouraged President Mbeki to continue reaching out to the Government of Zimbabwe (GOZ) authorities in order to find a solution. The main objective is to get Mugabe to reconcile with the opposition and "make democracy work." Iddi said that Tanzania and South Africa believe that President Mugabe has accepted the notion that there has to be a vote: "This is why we are trying to be brokers." ¶3. (C) In Iddi's view, a crucial step achieved during the Extraordinary SADC Summit in March 2007 in Dar es Salaam was to get Mugabe to acknowledge that there was a problem in Zimbabwe. The Deputy FM confided that Mugabe could have refused the SADC effort, yet "we have encouraged him to continue to accept and support the mediation." Iddi stated since Mugabe is still involved, the GOT remains hopeful the SADC initiative will succeed to pave the way for fair elections to be carried out as scheduled in March 2008. GREEN