Tsvangirai said SADC had responsibility to ensure parties abide by GPA

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said the Southern African Development Community as the guarantors of Zimbabwe’s transitional inclusive government must live up to its responsibility by ensuring that all parties to the Global Political Agreement abide by the letter and spirit of that agreement.

He said this two years ago when he met Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila who was SADC chairman at the time.

Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change had “pulled out” of the inclusive government accusing the Zimbabwe African National Union- Patriotic Front of being “dishonest and unreliable”.

He went on a regional tour to press Southern African leaders to put pressure on President Robert Mugabe to abide by the GPA.

There has been speculation that Mugabe regards himself as Joseph Kabila’s godfather because of the support he gave to his father Laurent Kabila but United States officials felt that Kabila now understood that Mugabe had become an embarrassment for SADC.

Full cable:

Viewing cable 09KINSHASA968, Tsvangirai Seeks More Active SADC Involvement in

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VZCZCXRO0340

OO RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN

DE RUEHKI #0968 2991729

ZNR UUUUU ZZH

O 261729Z OCT 09

FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA

TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0244

INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE

RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE

RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC

RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC

RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE

RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK

UNCLAS KINSHASA 000968

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A

TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM CG ZI

SUBJECT: Tsvangirai Seeks More Active SADC Involvement in

Zimbabwean Impasse

REF: Kinshasa 826

¶1. (SBU) Following Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan’s Tsvangirai’s

October 22 meeting with DRC President Joseph Kabila, Seraphin Ngwej,

Ambassador-at-large in the presidency, said that Tsvangirai had

briefed the DRC President on the current situation in Zimbabwe,

including his decision to freeze relations with the Mugabe camp.

Ngwej added that Tsvangirai pressed SADC (and by extension the SADC

Chairman) to take a more active involvement in finding a political

resolution to the internal Zimbabwean crisis. Kabila, according to

Ngwej, would travel with Mozambican President Guebuza, who chairs

SADC’s Organ on Politics, Defense, and Security, to Harare in the

coming days to evaluate the situation.

¶2. (SBU) Tsvangirai pointed to the DRC’s experience with political

transition as something from which Zimbabwe could learn. He added

that as “guarantors of Zimbabwe’s transitional inclusive government,

SADC must live up to its responsibility by ensuring that all parties

to the agreement abide by the letter and spirit of that agreement.”

A Tsvangirai aide said that Kabila promised to “actively resolve the

crisis.”

¶3. (SBU) Kinshasa press speculated that Tsvangirai was concerned

because Kabila, as SADC Chairman, had not taken the initiative to

engage on the Zimbabwean crisis. Robert Mugabe, according to one

press report, had always fashioned himself as Joseph Kabila’s

godfather, pointing to the Zimbabwean president’s political and

military support for Laurent Kabila. Pro-government press hailed

Tsvangirai’s visit as an indication that the DRC’s experience with

political transition could serve as a model for Zimbabwe.

¶4. (SBU) Comment: It is not clear how active the GDRC will want to

be on the Zimbabwe issue given contradictory influences playing on

its Zimbabwean policy (reftel). There are many who remember the

support Mugabe gave Laurent Kabila in his time of need and there are

still commercial contacts stemming from this period. However, the

GDRC appears to clearly understand that Mugabe has become an

embarrassment for SADC. The GDRC will continue to take its lead

from the South African Government, which appears to moving towards a

more noticeable SADC involvement in resolving the crisis. End

comment.

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