A spokesman for Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai says he holds high hopes for today's scheduled summit of SADC leaders in Maputo.
<!-- IMAGE -->Heads of state of the Southern African Development Community Troika countries are making yet another attempt to help resolve the political crisis in Zimbabwe.
James Maridadi said that full implementation of the Global Political Agreement remains the core issue before today's summit.
"The MDC is saying let us implement what we agreed on and let us also observe what is contained in the communiqué of January 2009. Only then can the inclusive government start functioning properly," Maridadi said.
Maridadi said he finds it comforting SADC views the implementation issue as key to any resolution of the crisis.
<!-- IMAGE -->"The most consoling thing is that the SADC (has) realized the need to implement the Global Political Agreement in full and the need to observe the SADC communiqué of January 2009 as the basis for negotiations," he said.
Taking part in today's scheduled summit are Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, Zambian President Rupiah Banda and King Mswati III of Swaziland. They are expected to meet with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Tsvangirai.
The MDC spokesman credited the sub-regional body for handling the Zimbabwean crisis with a sense of urgency.
<!-- IMAGE -->"The fact that the ministerial committee on Troika came to Zimbabwe soon after the visit by the prime minister (Tsvangirai)… and barely a week later we have a SADC summit. To me, it is a positive sign that SADC is taking this issue seriously and they are giving it the urgency that it deserves and I cannot wish for more," Maridadi said.
For their part, President Mugabe and his ruling ZANU-PF party maintain they are committed to the full implementation of the agreement.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch is calling on the SADC leaders to "press" President Mugabe's party to end what it calls the ongoing human rights abuses in the country.
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