SADC ON ZIMBABWE - TIME IS ON OUR SIDE

C O N F I D E N T I A L LUSAKA 000492 DEPT FOR AF/S BRIAN WALCH E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/14/2019 TAGS: PGOV SADC ZI ZA SUBJECT: SADC ON ZIMBABWE - TIME IS ON OUR SIDE REF: STATE 70664 Classified By: Ambassador Donald E. Booth for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) With Foreign Minister and Permanent Secretary out of country, PolOff delivered reftel demarche July 10 to Kimbala Meleka, Assistant Director for Africa and the Middle East at the Zambian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Meleka acknowledged that the Southern African Development Community (SADC),as a guarantor of the Zimbabwe Global Political Agreement (GPA), is fully aware of the challenges to the GPA that have been raised by Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Meleka said SADC heads of state haven't acted on their concerns because President Robert Mugabe has promised he would act on MDC's concerns. Meleka suggested that the numerous challenges "may not be addressed in one go" but that SADC is "closely monitoring the evolution of the situation" and, depending on events on the ground, "may intervene." He said the issue was not raised at the June 20 SADC Extraordinary Summit because the focus at that meeting was squarely on the situation in Madagascar. Meleka said the situation in Zimbabwe would be addressed during the July 18 -20 Interstate Politics and Diplomacy Committee meetings to be held in Swaziland (comprised of SADC Ministers of Foreign Affairs),where Zimbabwe will be in attendance to speak to specific political and security issues. BOOTH