SADC acts on Zim crisis

PRESIDENT Lungu is among SADC Heads of State that are scheduled to meet in Angola today for an urgent summit on the Zimbabwe political situation.

The President left Lusaka yesterday at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport and was seen off by Vice President Inonge Wina, Cabinet ministers, defence chiefs, PF secretary general Davis Mwila and other ruling party officials and members.

Mr. Lungu told journalists before departure that the Zimbabwe political crisis was an internal matter but had effects on the SADC region.

“What is happening in Zimbabwe is an internal matter obviously but it has effects on the region. We need to discuss as a regional body and that is exactly what we are going to do,” he said.

President Lungu is expected back in Zambia today after the meeting.

The summit had been called following an emergency meeting of the SADC Organ Troika Plus Council Chairperson Ministerial meeting, on the political situation in Zimbabwe, held in Gaborone, Botswana on November 16, 2017 which Minister of Foreign Affairs Harry Kalaba attended.

The meeting reaffirmed SADC’s commitment to the African Union Consultative Act and the SADC Principles regarding the unconstitutional removal of democratically elected Heads of State.

According to Mr. Kalaba, the meeting also condemned the current situation in Zimbabwe and reaffirmed the need for SADC member-states to remain guided by their constitutions and called upon the Zimbabwean stakeholders to settle their political challenges through peaceful means.