Mozambique: Demarche on SADC Heads of State Meeting and

UNCLAS MAPUTO 000371 SIPDIS SIPDIS AF/S FOR HTREGER MCC FOR SGAULL USAID FOR AFR/SA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM MZ SUBJECT: Mozambique: Demarche on SADC Heads of State Meeting and UNSCR 1747 on Iran ¶1. On March 28 Charge and pol/econoff met with Enrique Banze, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, to deliver the demarche on the Southern African Development Community's (SADC) response to the Zimbabwe situation and the demarche on UNSCR 1747 on Iran. ¶2. Banze noted our concern about the situation in Zimbabwe, particularly agreeing that the beating of opposition leaders was unacceptable. He noted, as well, that the international community had been speaking out, but he did not volunteer that the GRM would do the same. He said that he expected that the heads of state would discuss this matter in depth -- special meetings are called for unusual circumstances that must be addressed, is how he put it -- though he seemed to believe that other items would be on the agenda. ¶3. President Guebuza had already departed for the SADC meeting at the time of our demarche, and Banze was clearly not an insider on the President's plan for the SADC meeting, but he made it plain that he did not expect Mozambique to be seen speaking out publicly on Zimbabwe. What the GRM would do, he said, was encourage dialogue between the Zimbabwean government and opposition. Banze acknowledged that Zimbabwe presented an image problem for the rest of South Africa, that violence and instability could spread across borders and that economic growth in Mozambique would be negatively affected by the situation in Zimbabwe. That said, the solution for Zimbabwe's problems lay in Zimbabwe, not elsewhere, he told us. ¶4. On UNSCR 1747, Charge conceded that Mozambique and Iran have insignificant economic ties, but he noted that broad international support will be essential to making sanctions effective. Banze nodded agreement, accepted our non-paper, and seemed disturbed by news of the recent Iranian seizure of British sailors. Johnson