 Mugabe keeps Kabila waiting in hotel Mugabe, who just an hour earlier had been handing out medals to the senior soccer national team, the Warriors, after it clinched the COSAFA Cup title, refused to proceed to the airport from Rufaro Stadium to reportedly receive the DRC President. There was no senior official to receive Kabila at the airport and he proceeded to his hotel in the company of a low-key protocol officer. Prior to Kabila's visit, Mugabe had told mourners at the burial of a senior member of his Zanu-PF on Saturday that the stand-off prompted by the partial boycott of the government by the MDC must be addressed as a domestic issue. Mugabe said he was glad the principals were talking about it, adding he was treating it as a domestic political problem, "and our attitude is that ultimately it is up to us as Zimbabweans to sort out our problems," he said. Mugabe therefore saw the visit by Kabila as outside interference in the resolution of a problem he insists did not need outside mediation, senior government sources told The Zimbabwe Times. The state-run Herald newspaper described the visit as a "working visit" with DRC's ambassador to Mugabe finally met with Kabila in the afternoon of Monday and later met with Prime Minister Tsvangirai. "I am here to visit friends," Kabila said as he arrived Sunday, careful not to contradict official policy in Prior to his visit to Zuma met Kabila just after holding a meeting with Zimbabwe Vice President and Tsvangirai's deputy Thokozani Khupe. Khupe flew to Apparently angered by outside mediation in a problem he has dismissed as a storm in a tea cup, Mugabe labelled Tsvangirai's party untrustworthy. "They can never be true and genuine partners and they have proved to be dishonest," Mugabe said at the Heroes Acre. On Monday SADC was to further infuriate Mugabe by calling for a special summit of the SADC troika in Tsvangirai, Mugabe and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, and negotiators from the three parties were expected to attend the Mugabe goes to the summit after the ministerial troika forced his party to accept as binding, the SADC communiqué of January 27, 2009, which states that there must be new appointments for the Reserve Bank of Besides refusing to swear in some of its members into government, the MDC accuses Zanu-PF which it calls an "arrogant and unreliable partner" of persecuting its officials and delaying media and constitutional reforms that will be key to holding free and fair elections in about two years. Mugabe says he has met his side of the power-sharing deal and insists the MDC must campaign for the lifting of Western sanctions against his Zanu-PF, including travel bans on him and more than 200 of his officials and an arms embargo. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~--- |
