16 July 2007

By Fortune Tazvida

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is reported to have consulted South African President Thabo Mbeki on the progress of attempts to solve Zimbabwe's worsening political and economic crisis.

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon told the upper house of the British parliament on Thursday last week that the Prime Minister spoke to Mbeki a week ago. She however did not disclose details of the communication.

The baroness went further to reveal that Brown had also enquired from five other Southern African Development Community (SADC) states on the Zimbabwean crisis. "On 6 July the Prime Minister spoke to President Mbeki of South Africa about Zimbabwe. In recent weeks Zimbabwe has been raised at ministerial or presidential level with Zambia, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Botswana and South Africa," she said.

President Robert Mugabe has in the past said he hopes the departure of Tony Blair from the top job in London would lead to a rethink on its policy towards Zimbabwe. "Well, he (Mr Blair) is gone. We hope that those who come after him will look at Zimbabwe and the past policy and try to improve that past," he told mourners at the burial of Brigadier-General Armstrong Paul Gunda in Harare last month.

Critics say Mugabe has been trying to use his country's relationship with Britain as an excuse for human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. He constantly uses the state media to blame Britain for economic sanctions which he claims are the cause of the suffering inside the country.

Nehanda Radio: Zimbabwe's first 24 hour internet radio news channel.

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