UN boss descends on Zimbabwe

  1. Posted on Thursday 18 December 2008 - 09:08
    accreporter
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    Kent Mensah, AfricaNews editor in Accra, Ghana
    The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has served notice to Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe to urgently receive the U.N. special envoy for the country, which he said faced "economic, social and political collapse." Speaking at a news conference, he criticized SADC and said it failed to deliver results.
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    The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has been mediating in the Zimbabwe crisis. The southern African country is suffering from skyrocketing inflation, shortages of food and fuel, and a cholera outbreak that has killed nearly 1,000 people, the Reuters news agency said.

    A September power-sharing agreement between the ruling party and opposition has not been implemented. Ban said he had told President Robert Mugabe at a meeting in Doha late last month that Zimbabwe's humanitarian situation "grows more alarming every day. Zimbabwe stands on the brink of economic, social and political collapse."

    The United Nations said 5.8 million people, more than half the population, will need food aid in the first quarter of next year. Ban said: "I told (Mugabe) things needed to change, urgently, and that I and the U.N. stand ready to help. The president agreed to receive my envoy, Haile Menkerios. Now we are told that the timing is not right. If this is not the time, when is?"

    Echoing remarks he made to the Security Council on Monday, Ban said the world needed a "fair and sustainable political solution in Zimbabwe ... and we need it fast."
    In pointed comments, he said that for the past eight months, the SADC had "insisted on leading international diplomatic efforts -- with little result.

    "When the international community or a regional organization takes on a mission, it also takes on the responsibility to deliver," he said.

    South African President Kgalema Motlanthe said on Wednesday the SADC would "launch an urgent international campaign to mobilize financial and material resources to help the people of Zimbabwe ... overcome the challenges facing their country."

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