December 17, 2001
Ministers from the 14-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) are meeting in Luanda to discuss conflicts in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and to activate a regional defense body.
The ministers will also receive an informal briefing on the deepening political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe.
Angola, invoking the U.S.-led war against international terrorism, is pressing to have the rebels led by veteran guerrilla leader Jonas Savimbi declared a "terrorist" group.
"This is contentious issue. It is a hot potato," a delegate told Reuters on the sidelines of the two-day talks.
Officials said some states were resisting being drawn into Angola's agenda, which if agreed upon, could derail prospects for a peaceful resolution to Africa's longest running conflict.
They said Angola's strategy was inspired partly by the United States' inclusion of three east African rebel groups in a new "terrorist exclusion list."
The U.S. list, which named 39 groups, did not include UNITA, which enjoyed U.S. support during the Cold War against the then Russian and Cuban-backed Luanda government. In October, the new U.S. ambassador to Angola said Washington wanted to help the country return to peace.
Angolans have known little but war since the country gained independence from Portugal in 1975, sparking a conflict interrupted only briefly by shaky peace agreements.
The last deal, known as the Lusaka Protocol, was signed in 1994 and collapsed four years later when the government attacked UNITA, accusing Savimbi of breaking the U.N.-brokered agreement.
Government forces have stripped UNITA of its capacity to wage conventional war, but diplomats say Luanda is locked into a guerrilla war it cannot totally win.
The ministers will be briefed on developments in Zimbabwe, the region's biggest crisis, but a senior Zambian official said: "Don't expect any drama on the Zimbabwe issue. It will just be a briefing and an assessment of the situation there."
SADC has been sharply criticized for failing to take tough action against Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe has approved the sometimes violent seizure of land from white farmers and ignored the intimidation of political foes by his ruling ZANU-PF party.
A SADC delegation to Zimbabwe last week rejected any form of sanctions against Mugabe's government, saying it would hurt not only the former British colony but its neighbors in the region.
Zimbabwe faces severe food shortages, rising unemployment, inflation near 100 percent and a lack of foreign exchange, symptoms of its worst economic and political crisis in decades.
Mugabe blames Western governments which oppose his land redistribution plan for the country's misfortunes. His opponents say the crisis is due to years of government mismanagement and a violent campaign by the ruling ZANU-PF to cling to power.
Another issue at the talks is the fragile peace process in Congo, where more than two million people have died since the start of a war that has been called Africa's First World War.
"The peace process in the Congo will be looked at critically to see how we can advance it further," South African Defense Minister Mosiuoa Lekota told Reuters.
Congo's devastating civil war began in 1998 when rebels backed by Uganda and Rwanda sought to overthrow the late President Laurent Kabila. Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia sent troops to support him.
Kabila was assassinated in January and succeeded by his son Joseph, who has helped to rejuvenate peace efforts.
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