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Zimbabwe

My Lords, rather than speaking for two minutes, it might be better to have two minutes’ silence for that once lovely country and for the bravery of the opposition. How much longer that will continue, as my noble friend Lady Park said, none of us can judge. President Mbeki has not been a neutral referee at all. He has been an active collaborator of the Zimbabwean Government. SADC has failed Zimbabwe, Africa has failed Zimbabwe, the UN has failed Zimbabwe and the British Government have failed Zimbabwe because NePAD, which was supposed to help, has been, as we predicted not so long ago in 2003, a total waste of paper. Poor Zimbabwe has been dealt the lowest card in the pack and no one seems to be able to help the country. What plans have the Government to strengthen SADC—to make it an organisation that can operate efficiently and prove to be worthy of its constitution? How can it be made more robust? In many ways, the situation in Zimbabwe is the same that it was in 1979, except for one thing; that is, there is now no guarantee of free and fair elections—if there are to be any elections, because there may not be an opposition next year. What are the Government doing with other countries to make certain that there will be elections next year and that they will be free and fair? Without free and fair elections, there is no point in even considering a future for Zimbabwe. My third question to the Minister is: what initiatives have been taken to include the former leaders of African countries who signed the Bamako declaration in 2005? The one group that President Mugabe might listen to are the former leaders who might persuade him that by stepping down he might still be a hero in his country; that would give him a peg to leave on. He obviously will not listen to anyone in power at the moment.