Southern African heads of state called on the international community to end sanctions on Zimbabwe, ending a regional summit meeting yesterday with a statement many had expected.
Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai formed a power-sharing government in February as part of a deal backed by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to end a political crisis that followed disputed polls last year.
But the accord is beset with problems.
"The summit noted the progress made in the implementation of the global political agreement and called on the international community to remove all forms of sanctions against Zimbabwe," the SADC said in its final communique after a meeting in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
"Considering the positive evolution of the situation, considering the progress that has been made, we believe it is now high time that the sanctions are lifted," Congolese president Joseph Kabila said.
Mr Kabila, who took over as chairman of SADC during the summit, said if sanctions were not lifted, they would become an impediment to putting the political agreement into practice.
South African president Jacob Zuma began the meeting on Monday by asking Zimbabwe's leaders to end a row over a power-sharing pact that is holding up vital foreign aid to its battered economy. A recovery in Zimbabwe's battered economy is important for South Africa because millions of Zimbabweans have been driven to seek work in their much wealthier neighbour.
Earlier, Congo said it was confident the meeting would culminate in a call for an end to the sanctions, which include travel bans and asset freezes against Mr Mugabe and his inner circle.
Coming into the two-day summit Mr Tsvangirai had called upon regional leaders to put pressure on Mugabe to fully implement the power-sharing agreement.
While he accuses the Zimbabwean president of refusing to reverse a series of key political appointments, Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF, in turn, accuses the prime minister of not doing enough to push western governments to lift sanctions.
Reuters