SADC heads of state arrive for summit to discuss Zimbabwe

LUSAKA (AFP) - Southern African heads of state started arriving yesterday in the Zambian capital Lusaka ahead of a two-day summit expected to be overshadowed by the crisis in Zimbabwe.

But as the leaders began arriving on the eve of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) two-day summit, a veil was drawn at the conference venue on all issues related to Zimbabwe.

The country is expected to feature prominently in discussions starting Thursday, but neither the summit website nor the official programme made any reference to Zimbabwe as delegates studiously avoided journalists.

Incoming SADC chairman and Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, who has likened Zimbabwe to a "sinking Titanic", did not mention the troubled neighbouring state in a pre-summit address broadcast late Tuesday.

South African President Thabo Mbeki, tasked by the SADC in March to break a stalemate between Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF and the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), is due to report to the summit his progress.

Zimbabwe is in the grips of a political and economic downspiral, with a recent violent government clampdown on the opposition and world-record inflation, 80 percent unemployment and a critical shortage of food, fuel and other basic commodities.

Critics say Zimbabwe's problems started with land reforms in 2000 in which the government seized at least 4,000 farms from white farmers for reallocation to landless blacks and state cronies.

The South African government was compelled yesterday to issue a denial of British media reports purportedly quoting Mbeki's draft report as blaming Britain for strangling the Zimbabwean economy.

SADC spokeswoman Juliana Mwila could not say when Mbeki's report was due but said it would be discussed in a closed session.

"That is how SADC operates," she added.