SADC suspend Zim crisis agenda at summit

South African President Jacob Zuma's absenteeism at the South African Development Community (SADC) extra ordinary summit has shelved off plans to discuss Zimbabwe political crisis on Friday in Windhoek, a top diplomat said on Wednesday.

In a week with different statements around a possible elections date, a group of leading Zimbabwean NGOs agreed on a position paper that said SADC must allow a permanent powerful implementing authority to be stationed in the country so that all agreed GPA issues are implemented without fail. They said the security sector must be reformed without failure.

The remaining families in the diamond rich Chiadzwa area have been forced to leave their homes, after soldiers launched a brutal eviction process over the weekend. Meanwhile many senior Zanu-PF figures see the empowerment programme as a chance to broaden their interests in the diamond mines.